Adrift among open stars
by MelShep
Summary: When Shepard's sister is recruited to help fight the Reapers, she had no idea she would find love in the arms of a Turian Squadmate. Jessie will fight harder than she has ever had to in her life, not just for Humanity, or for her life, but for a kind of love she never thought she would experience.
1. Chapter 1

**Hi everyone, this is the first chapter of my new story, and I hope you enjoy it! For anyone who hasn't read any of my stuff before, a little bit of info: I love Mass Effect and it's universe, but I like to tell my own stories. So while many of the missions will tie in to the games, I often put my own spin on them. For this reason, I also like to mix up the characters (for example, in my last story James Vega played a big part, even though most of it was set during Mass Effect 2). In this chapter we meet some characters who are somewhere we may not expect to find them. Just roll with it, I promise it all comes together!**

 **Basically, try not to get too bogged down with what you know from the games, and read with an open mind :)**

 **I've also included something from the TV series 'Hannibal': my main character has her own 'Memory Palace', which she escapes into from time to time. I just wanted to give credit to the series for that, as I've found it a really interesting way to explore flashbacks.**

 **That's it, I really hope you enjoy this one, I've got a lot of ideas for it!**

* * *

Every time they strapped Jessie onto the table she went to her memory palace. It was a place she had built for herself, and every room housed a different memory. Though she was young, there were many rooms in her palace, some bright and cheerful, others dark and claustrophobic.

She hadn't always been able to escape to her palace. In fact, for the first few weeks after they snatched her from her home, Jessie had been mentally present for every terrible thing they had done to her. The shockings, the tests, the syringes. She had cried and screamed and fought, but nothing had been any good. It was only when they took some of her bone marrow, using a large needle through her hip, that she had found the key to her memory palace and escaped inside. Within the walls, she was safe from the cutting and the jabbing and everything else they did to her. They still did it, but she was blissfully absent.

Today, however, while lying strapped down on the table, naked as the day she was born, with tubes and wires in various places around her body, Jessie was not in a good room. This was a dark room, one of her darkest. A room holding her worst memory, yet one she could not stop visiting. Especially recently.

 _Jessica Shepard was sitting on the carpet of their small home. She was playing with her Omni-tool, changing the colour of the display from orange, to blue, to pink, back to orange. Her little brother, Tom, was watching her intently, smiling each time the colour changed. This was not something Omni-tools were meant to do, but Jessie had always had a way with technology (which is why she had been allowed to have an Omni-tool of her own in the first place, most children had to wait until they were at least fifteen). She found that hacking the Omni-tool was incredibly simple if you knew which numbers to change in the programming. At least, it felt easy to her, other nine year olds would probably have disagreed._

 _While the children sat on the carpet, their mother cooked the dinner, and their father set the table. Jessie no longer thinks of them as 'mom' or 'dad' when she visits this room in her memory palace. 'Mom' and 'dad' are terms which are too painful. They are now simply 'mother' and 'father'. These terms are more distant, less drenched in emotion._

 _Tom laughed as Jessie programmed the Omni-tool to change colour quickly, getting faster and faster until one colour was no longer distinguishable from the other._

 _It happened suddenly, the mood changed. There were sounds coming from outside, screaming and gunfire, though at the time Jessie hadn't known it was gunfire. She had never heard it before. She had never heard anything like the sounds outside. Many years later she had researched what had happened on Mindoir: Batarian slavers had come to the colony knowing the Humans had virtually no weapons to speak of. They were farmers. The Batarians had captured a few, but butchered most of the colonists in the space of a few hours._

 _Jessie didn't know this when she was nine, sitting on the carpet making the lights flash on her Omni-tool. She just knew that something was happening outside. Her father had run to the window, and shouted for her mother to take the children and hide them. Her mother had started to ask what was happening, but father had cut her off. Jessie and her brother were taken to the bedroom, where her mother revealed a trap door under the bed (something neither of the children had seen before). Their mother pushed them down into the darkness, before closing the door. They heard her move the bed back into place._

 _Jessie didn't know exactly what had happened next. She would find out later that her father and mother had both been killed, and that by the morning, she and her brother would be the only Humans left on the colony. But at that moment, sitting in the dark, she had done the only thing she had the power to do: keep her brother from crying. She continued to hack her Omni-tool long into the night, changing the colours, showing silent animations of dancing robots, creating holographic pictures in the air. He had eventually fallen asleep with his head on her lap, and she had sat in silence, watching as the lights of her Omni-tool slowly flickered as its connection to the power grid (now on fire) was lost._

* * *

"Have you got the sample?" Jessie was brought back from her memory by a voice she didn't recognise. A new Doctor was in the room, a tall man with dark hair and a beard, and, unlike the others, he was not wearing a mask. This was unusual, most of them seemed to be under orders not to let Jessie see their faces, which led her to believe that this man was either important, or simply didn't care about breaking the rules.

"Yes Doctor," someone behind Jessie replied.

"Excellent." The Doctor was by her side now, looking down at her. "That wasn't too painful was it?"

Another first, Jessie couldn't remember ever being addressed directly by one of her captors. She wasn't even sure her voice still worked, so she said nothing. The Doctor didn't seem too concerned, as if he had not really been expecting her to reply anyway. He was now looking at a chart. "Ok, this all looks good. We'll need some more blood tomorrow," he was talking to another doctor now. "The last experiment didn't work, so they had to torch it."

"It looked so promising…"

"I know, it's something to do with changing the gender, interferes with everything."

Jessie was trying so hard to take in what they were saying, but in reality she had no idea what they were talking about. What were they using her for? What was this about changing genders? She decided to take a risk, what could they do, torture her some more? They'd been doing that non-stop since she arrived.

"Why am I here?" She asked, surprised at the strength of her own voice.

The doctors turned around, and the one without a mask looked surprised. He looked at the others, "Have you not spoken to her?"

"He told us not to, Doctor. Said to keep a distance."

The Doctor shook his head, "Give us a minute," he said, waving them towards the door.

"Doctor I don't think-"

"Now."

 _Ok, he's someone important then. But not the one in charge, they were following someone else._ Jessie took this little piece of information and hoarded it away, as she had done with the other scraps she had picked up along the way.

When the other doctors were gone, the unmasked one came closer and pulled up a chair next to the table. "My name is Doctor Gavin Archer." He paused, as if waiting for her to introduce herself.

Jessie was surprised to find she could still remember how to be sarcastic. "Oh am I not wearing my name badge? I must have left it in my cell."

Archer actually laughed. "Nice to see you haven't lost your sense of humour in the past three months."

Jessie couldn't keep the shock out of her voice, "Three months? That's how long I've been here?"

Archer nodded. "Yes. And I must apologise for the coldness of my colleagues, they don't have much of a bedside manner."

"And you do?"

"We're talking aren't we?"

Jessie rolled her eyes. "I'm naked and strapped to a table, I don't exactly feel reassured."

Archer shrugged, "Well there's not much I can do about that Miss Shepard."

"Can you tell me why I'm here?"

"Why do you think you're here?"

"I don't know."

Archer leaned in closer. "I've read your file, you're a bright girl. Tell me what you think is happening."

Jessie thought for a moment, what harm could it do? If she played along with this, perhaps she might get some answers for herself. He wouldn't tell her anything important, she could see that, but she might get a sense of something from his reactions.

"You're Cerberus," she began. Archer raised an eyebrow, and so Jessie continued. "You don't have the logos on your clothes, but once when they were taking me in here I saw some soldiers. And another time I saw it written on some documents on a table over there." She nodded to the far end of the room.

"You're correct, we are Cerberus." Archer consented. "Why did we take you?"

Jessie paused, taking a breath. "My brother?" Jessie replied, barely more than a whisper.

"Why would you say that?" Archer wasn't confirming her theory, but he wasn't denying it either, and she knew she was right. That filled her with dread.

"Because he's Commander Shepard. Cerberus brought him back, and then he left them."

"What else do you know?"

"Not much, I hadn't spoken to him about what he was doing, he didn't want me to worry. All I know is he told me he'd left Cerberus, and was going…going back to the Alliance."

She had almost slipped up then, she didn't want this Archer to know that during her last conversation with her brother he'd also told her he was heading into Batarian space to rescue a scientist. She hadn't heard from him since then, and it had been just as she was starting to worry that Cerberus had snatched her from her home. She had no idea where her brother was now, or even if he was still alive. Of course, she'd never tell Cerberus that, however pleasant this doctor may seem.

"He did leave Cerberus, and right at the time when we needed him most."

"Why?"

"Something big is about to happen. We could have used him leading our people for that. Your brother is a useful asset."

"I'll be sure to pass it along. When I'm not tied to a table of course."

Archer raised an eyebrow. Jessie was starting to feel more confident, after all, it wasn't like she had much to lose. "You still haven't told me why I'm here? If you're so interested in my brother, why have you got me?"

"Isn't that obvious?"

Jessie shook her head. "I'm not bait, you wouldn't be so interested in my blood and everything else if that was the case."

Archer smiled a half smile. "I can't see the harm in telling you the truth. We're taking samples in order to create a clone."

Jessie was taken aback by how forthcoming he was. "Why would you want to clone me?"

"Not you, a clone of your brother."

Jessie shook her head. "That won't work, we're related but you can't clone him from my DNA."

"We brought him back from the dead Jessica, with enough money and the right people you can do just about anything."

Jessie's mind was working overtime, "And if it works, what happens to my brother?"

Archer got up, "I think you can imagine."

Jessie's stomach sank, she suddenly felt light headed. "Please," she heard herself beg. "Please don't hurt my brother."

Archer sighed, "I'm sorry Jessica, that's not something I have the power to control." And for a moment, Jessie thought she saw something that looked like regret in his eyes. But perhaps it was nothing, as within moments he was allowing the rest of the doctors into the room, and soon the injections and scrapings continued. Unfortunately, she was far too alert to return to her memory palace today.

* * *

Jessie woke up in her room. This was usual, she often passed out during her time with the doctors, and awoke here. Calling it her room was probably pushing it, it was a cell, no more, no less. She had a bed, a desk and chair, a toilet and a sink. No books, no paper, nothing to pass the time. Jessie sat up in her bed, slowly putting her legs out onto the floor. Getting up was always tricky after a long session with the doctors, she was never sure exactly how much blood they had taken or where they had cut. There had been a couple of occasions where she hadn't been able to walk for several days because they had cut into the soles of her feet (for what purpose, she didn't know).

Jessie heard the sound of her door open, but instead of the usual Cerberus grunt bringing in her food, it was someone new. A tall woman with dark brown hair, wearing a skin tight white body suit. Jessie knew this woman, she had met her once before, but as she went to speak the woman interrupted.

"My name is Miranda Lawson."

Jessie was confused, she knew that, her brother had introduced the two of them months ago. But for some reason Miranda didn't want to acknowledge that, and Jessie would play along for now. She nodded at Miranda, who placed a tray of food down on the table.

"I asked to be assigned to this project," Miranda continued, seemingly speaking to the room rather than to Jessie. "I'm very interested in this assignment, and I hope you will continue to behave in the way you have been for the past three months. Know this, we are always watching you." Her eyes flickered to the top left corner of the cell, where Jessie knew there was a small ventilation grate. She was now surer than ever, though, that there was a camera in that grate. Jessie nodded.

Miranda looked at the tray on the table, "Enjoy your lunch." Then she slipped out of the cell.

 _Well that was odd. Why didn't she ask me about Tom? Why is she pretending we haven't met?_

Trying not to look too eager, Jessie moved to the desk and sat down. She could see it, a napkin under her bread. She was never given napkins, this was something new, and she was sure it contained a message. Hoping her back was blocking the view of the camera, she slipped the napkin into her sleeve, and ate her meal as normal. Afterwards she waited twenty minutes, then headed for her toilet, the one place where she had a modicum of privacy due to the little curtain she could pull across. She sat on the toilet seat and unfolded the napkin. Sure enough, there was a short message written in the corner, in beautiful handwriting.

 _He knows you're here. It won't be long._

Jessie felt a smile spreading across her lips, and she hugged the napkin to her chest. She felt tears fall down her cheeks as she read the message one more time, before flushing it down the toilet.


	2. Chapter 2

**Thanks to Jenna and hiraethbird for their kind reviews of the first chapter. I couldn't wait to continue with this story, and I hope you all enjoy the next chapter!  
**

* * *

 _When Jessie and Tom climbed out of the trap door the next morning, Jessie already knew nothing would ever be the same for the two of them. She left Tom in the bedroom, and headed out of the door by herself. He was six, and though was only three years older, she didn't want him to have to see what she was sure she would find outside the bedroom._

 _She was glad she left him behind. The floor outside the bedroom was soaked with blood. Jessie stared at it for several minutes, wondering whether it had belonged to her mother or her father, before realising it didn't matter. She searched the rest of their small house, but both her parents were nowhere to be found. There was another blood stain on the living room carpet, by the front door. Jessie covered both stains with towels and sheets, before retrieving her brother from the bedroom._

 _They knew they would have to leave their home, and so both the children began to pack. Jessie threw some clothes into her backpack, along with her favourite book. She went to the kitchen and grabbed some food and a couple of bottles of water, then joined Tom in his bedroom. When she checked his bag, she found he had filled it with toys. Jessie angrily emptied these onto the floor, "We don't have time for this!" She had yelled, exasperated. Tom began to cry, clutching hold of a stuffed mech that his mother had knitted for him. He'd had it since he was a baby._

 _Jessie suddenly felt the weight of her new responsibilities heavy on her shoulders, and for a moment felt like crying herself. But she knew she had to stay calm. She helped Tom pack all of the toys back into his bag, and added his clothes to her own. As they made their way to the kitchen, she took a photo from the fridge, a picture of the four of them at Tom's birthday party. She folded it, and slipped it into her pocket._

 _As Jessie opened the front door, she felt Tom stop beside her. He was looking at the towel she had put down to cover the blood stain. Their weight had made the blood seep through the material, forming blood footprints under their feet. Tom looked at his sister, but said nothing. Jessie took him by the hand and led him from their home, not allowing herself to turn and look at it one last time._

* * *

Jessie wasn't sure what Miranda understood by the word 'soon', but it probably wasn't the same way she viewed it. A week had passed, and there had been no sign of her brother, or even of Miranda herself. Jessie had gone back to the doctors in the white room twice, but spent the rest of the time in her room, with nothing to occupy her time but her memories. She had not seen Doctor Archer since he had spoken to her a week ago.

The door opened, and Jessie looked up expectantly, only to find a Cerberus guard looking back at her. He threw her a towel, which was his eloquent way of telling her it was time for a shower. Jessie picked the towel off the floor and walked over to the door. He placed the holo-shackles on her hands, and led her from the room.

Jessie liked the walk to the showers, it was the only time she was allowed to walk the corridors (her trips to the medical rooms all involved her being wheeled on a gurney, completely naked). From these walks, she had learned a great deal about her whereabouts. She knew she was in a facility on a planet rather than a space station, even though she was sure they wanted her to believe otherwise. There were no real windows, only panes of frosted glass which were lit in order to look like there was light coming from outside. However this was simply to make her (and any other prisoners, for surely she couldn't be the only one?) think they were in space. Once, she had caught sight of a man down the corridor taking his coat off. This surely meant he had been outside, as there would certainly be no use for a coat when traveling from a shuttle? Another time she had heard someone complaining about the rain. Once she was sure she had seen a leaf caught in a doctor's shoe.

She had also learned that the facility was rather small, and that every now and then they would receive a visit from someone important. She had never seen this person. She wished she had asked Tom more about Cerberus when she had the chance, but to be honest she had wanted to know as little about them as possible. They brought her brother back, and she was grateful, but she had heard bad things about that group, and had not wanted any reason to hate the people her brother was working for. She had been more than a little relieved when he had called to say he had left them.

She walked with the guard into the shower, allowed him to remove her shackles, and proceeded to undress. He was, of course, watching her the whole time. In the beginning she had refused to undress with the guard watching, but that had been worse. He had simply restrained her hands and feet and undressed her himself. This way was much easier, and besides, it wasn't like she wasn't used to people seeing her body. After her last few jobs, this felt almost normal to her.

* * *

Another week passed, and Jessie was back in a room surrounded by doctors. But this room was different, and the energy was strange. It was as though the doctors themselves were nervous. Jessie couldn't put her finger on it, but she felt like something big was happening. This was confirmed when one of the doctors placed a mask over her nose and mouth, and she felt herself become drowsy. They had never sedated her before, not for a single test. Something big was happening.

For the next three days, Jessie lived in a state of disorientation. She would awaken in her room, then things would go fuzzy and suddenly she'd be in surgery, with her eyes open just long enough to see a mask descend on her face. They must've been feeding her through a tube or something, as she had no memory of eating or drinking anything over that time.

When she awoke that morning, however, she felt that something was different. She didn't feel so hazy any more, which might have been something to do with the skull splitting headache she was currently dealing with. Jessie sat up in her bed, grasping her head in her hands and wishing that for once they would turn down the lights in her room. Ever so slowly, not wanting to risk her head cracking in half, she climbed out of her bed, at least enjoying the feeling of being able to walk across her room. She was just about to lower her hands from her head, when she felt something under her left index finger. Were those stitches? She ran her hands across the area just on top of her ear. Her hair had been shaved off in huge clumps, and she could feel a row of stitches across her skin. She felt above her right ear, it was the same on that side.

Jessie felt her eyes flick to the ventilation grate near her ceiling, the place she was sure a camera was hidden. "What did you do to me?" She whispered.

As if on cue her door opened and a guard with a towel stood at the opening. She didn't know if it was always the same one, or a different one each time. They all acted in exactly the same way, and right on schedule he flung the towel vaguely in her direction. Jessie stooped to pick it up, certain she could feel her brain sloshing around inside her skull. She froze in place, unable to hold in the groan that escaped her lips. "Hurry up," came the guard's metallic voice.

"Fuck you." She muttered, at this point not caring whether he heard or not.

He applied the shackles to her hands much more roughly than usual, and pushed her out of the room. As she walked, Jessie tried to recall anything that had happened over the last few days, but it was no good: it was all a blur. But the stitches on her head and the fact that she had barely been conscious for the whole time suggested that it certainly hadn't been a vacation.

* * *

They reached the showers, and the guard removed her shackles. Jessie quickly undressed, keeping her back to him at all times. She felt extra conscious today, she just wanted to be alone with her thoughts. She put her clothing down the chute on the wall, she would get new clothes in her room. The guard always made her walk back in just her towel.

She stepped under the warmth of the running water, finding it was somehow soothing her headache at least. She kept her back to the guard, leaning against the wall because she still felt rather unsteady on her feet.

"Turn around." Came the voice behind her.

Jessie ignored him.

"I said turn around."

"Why?" She asked irritably, still not facing him.

"Because I said so."

Jessie sighed, but she did what he said. She'd been on the receiving end of one of their electronic batons before, when she had tried to make a run for it in the beginning. She was in no hurry to repeat that experience, especially when wet. The guard was watching her, or she assumed he was. He wore a helmet. All the guards wore helmets, and the doctors wore masks (except Archer). She wondered if it was to make the prisoners feel even more isolated.

Still, having this guy staring at her was enough to tip her over the edge. All these months, being treated worse than most people would treat an animal. Being dragged from room to room, being injected, watched, cut, and beaten. She wouldn't take it anymore, and if her brother wasn't coming to get her, then she would do something herself. She may not have been particularly strong, but she was clever enough to use what was available.

"You enjoy looking at me?" She asked the guard, making her voice softer. He didn't reply. The fact that he hadn't denied it made Jessie more confident. "You could join me?" She suggested, turning around and looking at him over her shoulder. "I wouldn't tell."

The guard stood still. He wasn't moving towards her, but he wasn't saying no either. Jessie looked once more at the baton strapped to his waist, then looked away quickly, hoping he hadn't followed her gaze. If she was quick enough she could grab it from him, but it wouldn't work while he was in his armour. She took a breath, turned back around, and moved closer. He didn't back away. Jessie reached up and pulled off his helmet.

The guard was fairly normal looking, a little older than her perhaps? Brown eyes, black hair. He didn't look particularly dangerous, but she knew looks were deceptive. She reached up and planted a chaste kiss on his cheek. That seemed to do the trick, the guard quickly removed his armour, placing it on the chair just behind him. Jessie smiled, her eyes flicking once to the baton at the top of the pile of armour. He moved closer to her, reaching his hand out.

Jessie moved in, so the two of them were just inches apart.

Then she kneed him in the groin.

The guard doubled over, giving Jessie the time to get to the baton. Though she had kicked him hard, he must've realised what she was doing, because he was on his feet and stumbling towards her in seconds. Jessie struck him with the baton, watching as the electric current made his hair stand on end. She hit him until he was on the floor, and then once more. He was unconscious now. Jessie kicked him for good measure, then moved to the chair. She was hoping to slip into his armour in order to escape, but it was no good, it was much too heavy for her to wear. She would give herself away in seconds trying to drag herself down the hall in that.

What was she going to do? There she was, naked, dripping wet, and a few feet from the guard she had just beaten unconscious. What had she been thinking? She had no idea how to get out of this. If she thought Cerberus had been brutal in their treatment of her before, it would certainly be a hundred times worse now.

She heard the sound of the door open behind her, and spun around to face whatever was coming. But this wasn't right. Instead of guards or doctors, it was a single Asari. Cerberus weren't known for being big on recruiting aliens. The Asari surveyed the situation, looking at the guard, and then ad Jessie, still naked and soaking wet. For a moment the only sound was that of the still running shower.

"Jessica?" The Asari had a gentle voice, and approached as though Jessie were a bird, and she was afraid she would fly away. "Is your name Jessica?" She asked.

Jessie nodded. What did she have to lose?

"My name is Liara T'Soni, I'm here to rescue you."


	3. Chapter 3

_After leaving their home, Jessie and Tom had walked to the very edge of their colony on Mindoir. Rescue was at the forefront of their minds, however during their journey, they had not set eyes on a single soul. Jessie was starting to realise just how much trouble they were in. Her mother and father were dead. She knew that, even though she hadn't seen their bodies. She and Tom had no other family on this planet (though perhaps that was a good thing), and no way of getting anywhere else. She was vaguely aware of an aunt on the Citadel, but what use was that information when they were stuck here?_

 _Jessie and her brother walked in silence for several hours, the hot Mindoir sun beating down on them the entire time. Eventually they reached the lake, and Jessie sat her brother down under the shade of a large tree. She had not thought to pack any water, and though the lake was beautiful, she knew it was wriggling with bacteria. Just as she thought about venturing into one of the nearby houses for something to drink, Jessie heard a noise. Not far from where they were sitting, Jessie could see a shuttle. Not too far from that, four men were moving to and from it, carrying boxes and bags. Jessie pulled her brother into a nearby bush, where the two of them could watch the men without being seen. They stayed put for the next hour, neither Tom nor Jessie saying a word._

 _From what Jessie could tell, they were here to steal anything worth stealing. They were smugglers, thieves, but not killers, and maybe not even bad men. They weren't stealing from the bodies directly, and one of them actually seemed to be covering the bodies with sheets as he came across them. He was the youngest of the group, probably in his twenties. The other three were older, most of them with greying hair and scarred faces. One had an eye patch._

" _What the hell are you doing?" The one with the eye patch asked, dropping a cigarette on the ground._

 _The younger one didn't turn to face him, simply continued covering the body of an old woman Jessie didn't recognise, with a piece of tarp. "What's it look like?" The younger one asked, his voice gruff, as though preparing for an argument._

" _You're wasting your time Zaeed, these people are dead, they don't need nothin'"._

 _The one called Zaeed stood up and faced the one with the eye patch. "And that means we can't show them some fuckin' respect?"_

 _The two men were staring each other out when a third interrupted. "That's enough you two. Zaeed, check the houses over there, then we're getting out of here."_

 _Zaeed nodded, giving the man with the eye patch one final look before turning and heading the other way._

 _Jessie felt her stomach drop, he was moving directly towards where she and Tom were hiding. Jessie turned to Tom and gestured for him to stay down, then placed a finger to her lips. He nodded, and before she could change her mind, she quickly got to her feet. She knew these men might be their only way off this planet, but she needed to know if they were dangerous before letting them get anywhere near Tom. Zaeed stopped suddenly when she appeared from the bushes, though he didn't look overly surprised._

" _Wondered when you were going to show yourself," he grinned. He had a gruff voice, but his face looked kind enough, almost handsome, almost._

 _Jessie raised an eyebrow. "You knew I was here?"_

" _I saw both of you about twenty minutes ago," Zaeed replied. "Figured you might be scoping us out."_

 _Tom stood up at Jessie's side._

" _Hello little man," Zaeed grinned. "You looking after your sister?"_

 _Tom nodded, but didn't say anything._

" _We need a ride." Jessie was trying to sound brave, but she couldn't keep her voice balanced._

 _Zaeed looked back at his shuttle, and Jessie noticed that the other men had now stopped what they were doing, and were all looking her way. The one with the eye patch had lit another cigarette._

" _We need a ride to the Citadel," Jessie continued._

" _Can't do that I'm afraid," Zaeed replied. "We're headed for Omega."_

" _On that?" Tom asked, nodding towards the shuttle. Jessie saw he was holding his stuffed mech tightly in his hands, and this image of his vulnerability put a lump in her throat._

 _Zaeed grinned, "No little man, the shuttle takes us to our ship: it's up there somewhere." He pointed to the sky, and Tom looked up. Jessie, however, kept her eyes trained on Zaeed._

" _Will you take us to Omega?" She persisted._

 _Zaeed seemed to be thinking, and he looked carefully at the two of them. "It's just you?" He asked. Jessie nodded._

 _Zaeed sighed. "Shit, these guys don't like me anyway, may as well give em another reason." He motioned for them to follow him to the shuttle. Jessie took Tom by the hand, following closely behind Zaeed. The other men didn't look too happy that they would be joined by the children, and Jessie decided she would have to watch them at all times. She knew they were probably harmless, probably._

" _Keep holding my hand, don't leave my side," she whispered to Tom._

 _You couldn't be too careful._

* * *

"My name is Liara T'Soni, I'm here to rescue you." The words spun around Jessie's head, and she found herself quite unable to believe them. The Asari moved closer, slowly, gracefully. She leant to pick up the towel from the floor, and held it out to Jessie. "Do you want to put this around you?" She asked gently.

Jessie, who had become rather used to not being embarrassed by her nakedness, still didn't move. Though she didn't know this Asari, the name sounded familiar, she was sure her brother had mentioned an Asari called Liara. But where was he? Why would he send someone else to rescue his own sister?

As if reading her mind, Liara spoke. "Thomas is here. He is providing a diversion with some other members of his squad. He knew we needed a diversion in order to escape, and I could get to you more easily on my own." At that moment the whole base seemed to shake, and a nearby alarm sounded. Liara smiled, "I think that's our diversion." Jessie could hear the sounds of gunfire in another part of the base. Another loud explosion, this one causing Jessie to lose her balance slightly. She managed to stop herself from falling over.

Liara moved closer again, and Jessie finally took the towel she was holding out, wrapping it around herself hurriedly. "We need to get out of here," Liara persisted. Jessie knew it wasn't like she had any other option, so she nodded. Liara put on a helmet, and Jessie noticed for the first time she was wearing Cerberus armour. "I needed to get in undetected," Liara added. Jessie nodded again, wondering why she seemed incapable of speaking. She allowed Liara to attach some holo shackles, and Liara showed her how to take them off on her own if necessary, which relaxed Jessie a little more.

Soon they were out in the hall, and more explosions were ringing out around them. Everyone seemed to be moving at great speed, and so none of them paid any attention to Jessie in her towel. Liara held her gently by the arm, leading her through corridors Jessie didn't recognise. Soon they arrived at an office, and Liara quickly typed a code in the panel to let them inside. Once through the doors, Jessie saw there were two guards on the floor. She wasn't sure if they were dead or passed out.

"This way," Liara said from the other side of the office, and she stood at a ventilation grate. "We climb through this and it takes us outside. Our shuttle landed not far from the base." She lifted her Omni-tool, then shook her head. "This facility jams communications and scrambles all functions of Omni-tools not registered to their system."

"Tell me something I don't know," Jessie muttered, raising her arm. Her own Omni-tool flickered on and off.

"Shepar…your brother said he would make his way back to the shuttle as soon as he could. We need to be fast."

Jessie nodded, but as she turned to walk to where Liara was standing, she noticed something on the desk in front of her. There were several screens, and on one of them she could see herself, lying on the table in the room she had been taken to for the last few days. "Jessica?" Liara's voice sounded far away, as Jessie moved closer to the screen. She hit the play button.

 _Jessica lay unconscious on the table while the doctors moved around, preparing their equipment. Archer moved into the room. "Listen up everybody, as you know, the cloning project has been shut down. The Illusive Man wanted this subject disposed of, but I have managed to convince him that she would be an excellent participant in our latest project."_

 _One of the other doctors moved forwards, "Doctor, all the previous subjects have died in these experiments, what makes you think she'll be any different?"_

 _Archer paused, looking at Jessica. "There's something different about this one, her will is stronger than the others. After all we've done to her, she's still virtually unscathed. I think she could adapt to the Reaper tech. If it works for her, she could prove very useful."_

The recording stopped, and before Jessie had time to process what she had just seen, another one started. Jessie was on the table again, but the time stamp at the bottom of the screen showed this to be three days later. A man Jessie didn't recognise was standing beside Archer, looking at Jessie. He wore an expensive looking suit, and was smoking a cigarette.

"So it was successful?" The man asked.

"Yes," Archer replied. "She survived the implantation of the tech, and from what we can tell, she'll have full functionality."

"What have we learned from it? What will it do?"

Archer paused before answering. "Unfortunately, only time will tell. Our best estimate, however, is that it will enhance any abilities she may already have-"

"She's not a biotic, though, is she?" The man interrupted.

"No," Archer conceded.

"Not even combat trained, according to her records."

Archer looked nervous. "No, but she's known to be excellent with tech, and with the Reaper upgrades, she could hack faster, and understand complicated systems that could previously only be accessed by computers."

"But this is all speculation?" The man added, and Jessie could virtually see the beads of sweat on Archer's forehead.

"Well, yes."

"What about control?" The man continued, moving closer to Jessie's sleeping body.

"Control?" Archer repeated.

"Yes, can we learn anything about our theories with these upgrades?"

Archer nodded. "Obviously control works differently for organics and synthetics, but if we begin our tests with her, then with the other subjects, we can begin to understand how it could work on a larger scale. We can understand how to control our own people, and take steps towards controlling the Reapers."

The man nodded, taking another drag of his cigarette. "Good. I'm taking a big risk. We were only going to begin these experiments with our own volunteers. By choosing her, we may have made a powerful enemy."

"Shepard's locked up, though, isn't he?"

"I don't know," the man replied, and for the first time since the recording started, he looked worried. "Reports are still coming in from Earth, but it's all fragments. He could be locked up, he could have escaped, or he could be dead. We won't know for sure unless he makes himself known. And we don't want that." The man looked at Archer quizzically. "I can't help feeling you pushed for this simply because you didn't want her to die."

Archer met the man's gaze, though when he spoke his voice wavered a little. "Everything I do, I do for Cerberus."

The man gave Jessie one final look, then nodded. "Very well, keep me informed of your progress."

* * *

The film ended, and Jessie felt Liara standing beside her. "Did you know?" Jessie asked. Liara shook her head.

"Reaper…" Jessie whispered the word. She may not have known much about her brother's mission, but she knew that word. She knew what they were. But she couldn't understand what she had seen. Reaper upgrades? Control? What did it all mean? And what did they mean when they said reports from Earth were fragmented? They didn't seem to know if Tom was even alive. What had happened?

Suddenly Jessie felt very lightheaded. She saw Liara put something into the side of the screen they had just watched, and realised she was downloading the information. _Good idea, I'll need to watch that again._

"We need to go," Liara gently pressed, and she led Jessie toward the vent. Jessie heard the door to the office swing open behind them. She didn't even have time to turn around before she felt herself being hit in the back by something powerful. Then everything went black.


	4. Chapter 4

**Thanks to Mordinette for her lovely review of the last chapter, and to anyone who has read, followed, or favourited the story. Hope you enjoy this chapter :)**

* * *

Omega is the worst place in the galaxy. _That was the one thought which continually spun around Jessie's head as she and Tom stood behind Zaeed in the Omega docks. The station was dark, uncomfortably warm, and, Jessie could tell just by looking at the other people around them, that it was clearly filled with what her mother would've called "unsavoury characters". She felt her brother clutch her hand even tighter, and tried to look confident when she felt his him looking up at her._

" _Don't worry," she whispered. "We'll be fine."_

 _Tom nodded, then wrinkled his nose. "This place smells funny."_

 _He was right there, the station had a raw, gritty, almost fleshy smell to it. As though someone were burning meat not too far away. Zaeed was talking to an unhappy looking man with a holographic clipboard, and though she still wasn't sure if she could trust him, Jessie decided to keep close. The flight to Omega had taken almost a whole day, and Zaeed had spent every moment with the children. Though she was young, Jessie knew that Zaeed did not trust his fellow crew members to look after herself or her brother, and by the way one of them had been looking at her, she was willing to bet he was right._

" _Come on," Zaeed said gruffly, nodding at Jessie and Tom. The two of them followed him towards the nearest door. Once through it, they found themselves in a wide open street, filled with more people than Jessie had ever seen in one place. More aliens too. She'd seen a couple on Mindoir (mostly visiting officials): an Asari, a couple of Salarians, and a few more on the vids (she knew what Turians and Krogan looked like), but had never seen this many species up close._

" _Don't look so much like tourists," Zaeed scowled, hurrying them along._

" _What are those?" Tom asked, pointing at a species Jessie had never seen before._

 _Zaeed immediately pushed Tom's hand down, "Don't point at the Vorcha," he muttered. "They'll bite your finger off, don't think they won't." He sighed. "The most important thing about moving around on Omega is to be invisible, do you understand?"_

 _Jessie wasn't sure, but nodded anyway. They continued moving. "I've found somewhere for you two to sleep tonight," Zaeed said. He walked quickly, and the children had to work hard to keep pace._

" _We need to go to the Citadel," Jessie protested, shaking her head. "We can't stay here."_

" _Easy, Miss," Zaeed grinned. "I managed to get the both of you on a transport ship. It's not exactly glamorous, but it'll get you there, and the crew are trustworthy. It doesn't leave until tomorrow, and it's not safe for you to wait at the docks."_

 _Jessie was momentarily taken aback. "You paid for our tickets?"_

" _It was more calling in a favour, but sure." Zaeed stopped walking, which gave the children a moment to catch their breath. "Here," he said, passing two tickets to Jessie. Then he pointed to the building they had stopped outside. "This is where you're staying, I've called ahead, just tell them I booked you in." He looked a little concerned for a moment. "I'm leaving Omega now, our crew were only stopping to drop off some cargo…I won't be able to take you to the docks tomorrow."_

" _I remember how to get there." Jessie assured him._

 _Zaeed still didn't look too comfortable. "You two keep safe. Don't talk to no one on your way to the ship, keep your heads down and move quick. Understand?" The children nodded._

 _Zaeed ruffled Tom's hair. "Look after your sister, little man."_

" _I will," Tom nodded, and Jessie realised he was still holding on to her hand._

 _Zaeed looked at Jessie now. He looked as though he was going to say something, but simply nodded, before turning on his heel and leaving._

 _Jessie took a deep breath, glancing up at the building. "Come on Tommy," she said determinedly, pulling him towards the doors._

* * *

 _After spending the night in the hotel, where they both slept solidly for nine hours, the children headed back towards the docks. Jessie remembered what Zaeed had said, and made sure that she and Tom kept their eyes to the ground, and tried to look as invisible as possible. It all seemed to be going well, until they reached the entrance to the docks, which was shut. Standing by the closed door was a Turian. Jessie couldn't help but be fascinated by him: Turians were much bigger than they looked on vids, and this one had colourful red and purple patterns on his face. He looked down at the children suspiciously. "What do you want?" He asked._

 _His voice was stern and gravelly, and Jessie had the strangest feeling that this was what it would be like to talk to a lion. She cleared her throat. "We're trying to get to the docks, we have tickets for a flight to the Citadel."_

 _The Turian raised an eyebrow, or would've done if he'd had them. Jessie noted that he simply raised the part where an eyebrow would be on a human. "Door's busted," he grunted. "There's another one, over there." He pointed to his right. "Go through the alley, you can't miss it."_

 _Jessie nodded. "Thank you." She took Tom by the hand and pulled him away._

 _She could've sworn she heard the Turian mutter, "Good luck," but that could've been her imagination._

 _The alleyway was even darker than the station, and overhead pipes dripped warm liquid onto the floor. Jessie hoped it was water. Tom's hand was sweaty, and he was clutching her own so tight it was starting to hurt._

" _Stop," she muttered, trying to loosen his grip._

" _I don't like this," Tom whimpered._

" _We'll be fine, we're almost there."_

" _Almost where?" The voice was new, and stopped Jessie and Tom in their tracks. In front of them, four children had appeared. Two were Human boys, one was a Vorcha, and the other was a species Jessie didn't recognise. It had four eyes and lots of sharp teeth in its grinning mouth. Jessie couldn't help but stare at those teeth, until one of the Humans spoke again. "What's the matter, never seen a Batarian before?"_

 _Before Jessie could answer, she realised Tom was shaking his head: no. The children all laughed. The Batarian spoke next. "You must be straight off the transport! Where are you from?"_

 _Neither Jessie nor her brother answered, but the smiles on the faces of the children did not falter. Instead, the Batarian simply stepped forward. "Going somewhere?" He asked._

" _Yes," Jessie found her voice. "We're on our way to meet our friend Zaeed, and he'll be very angry if we're late, excuse us." At this the four children all looked at each other._

" _Zaeed Massani?" One of the Humans asked._

" _Let them go, Grat," the other Human said to the Batarian. "Not worth it."_

 _The Batarian smiled again. "Massani left on a transport last night, saw him go myself. So she's lying." He moved even closer, so that now Jessie could reach out and touch him if she wanted to. "Empty your pockets. If you've got something good then maybe we won't make you eat your teeth." The other kids laughed._

 _Jessie heard Tom gasp beside her, and he held her hand even tighter. "We haven't got anything," Jessie lied._

 _What happened next was a blur, the Batarian lashed out, headbutting Jessie hard and causing her to stumble back. Then someone kicked her in the stomach, and she fell to the floor. More feet kicking her now, over and over, but she could barely see because her head was still spinning._

" _Get off her!"_

 _That sounded like Tom, and through fuzzy eyes it looked like he might've been pulling one of the Humans off of her._

" _Get him!"_

" _Hold him down!"_

" _Check his bag!"_

 _Everything went black, but only for a few seconds, because when Jessie woke up they were still shouting. They had stopped kicking her, and she could see two of them going through her brother's bag, emptying the contents onto the floor._

" _It's just toys!"_

" _Nothing we can sell!"_

 _She saw the Vorcha was holding her brother's arms behind his back, and the Batarian (who now had a bloody lip), punching Tom in the stomach again and again while one of the Humans rifled through his bag. The other one was leaning his head back, trying to stop the blood that was flowing from his nose. Tom had his head down, and Jessie couldn't see if he was crying or not._

" _Stop!" It was all she could say, the wind had been knocked out of her, and even that single word was a struggle. But she had to get them to stop, so she reached into her pocket and pulled out the tickets. "Take." She gasped._

 _Tom looked like he was shaking his head. The Batarian came closer, snatched the tickets out of her hands. He looked at them for a moment, then grinned. "Let's go!" He said to his friends._

 _Then they were gone._

 _Thomas ran to his sister, and now she could see the beginnings of a black eye flowering on his face. His nose was bleeding, and his clothes were torn, but he was smiling. "I got them off you," he grinned. "And I punched one of them right in the face. I think I broke his nose!" He looked so proud of himself, and Jessie felt a wave of love for her little brother wash over her, momentarily halting the pain in her head and stomach._

" _Come on tough guy," she muttered, getting to her feet. She could see the kids had already emptied out her bag too. "Let's get all our things back in the bags, then we need to come up with a new plan."_

* * *

Bright light. That was all Jessie could see, and for a moment she wondered if this was what it was like to be dead. But then things around her began to come into focus, and she realised she wasn't dead. She was in a room, and a woman she didn't recognise was shining a light in her eyes.

"I think she's coming around now," the woman said in a clipped accent. "Jessica, can you hear me?"

 _A doctor. It's another doctor._

Jessie looked around. She could see medical equipment, tables, monitors, and beside her a tray of needles. But this time she wouldn't let them do anything to her. Without pausing for a moment Jessie lashed out, pushing the woman away so hard she fell onto the floor. Now a man was approaching, and he was strong. He tried to hold her down. He was saying something, but the words meant nothing while Jessie was this angry. She reached for the tray of needles and stuck one into his neck.

"SONOFABITCH!" The man cried out, stepping back and pulling the syringe from his neck. Jessie was on her feet, grabbing a scalpel from the tray and running for her life. She was through the door to her right in a matter of seconds, and it took her even less time than that to hack the door so that it locked behind her. She could hear the man banging on the other side, but she knew he wouldn't get in that way.

Slowly she backed up, looking down at herself. She was in a hospital nightgown, clean white in colour. She held the scalpel tightly in her hand, and continued backing away from the door until she felt a wall behind her, then slid onto the floor. The room was small, and filled with computer equipment. It didn't look like a hospital room, but that didn't mean it wasn't.

* * *

Jessie tried to recall the last things that had happened to her: she was with Liara, her brother was going to rescue her, she found out about the Cerberus experiments, and then she had been hit with something. What had Cerberus done with Liara? Was she even still alive? Where was Tom?

"Jessica, can you hear me?" The woman's voice came from inside the room, but Jessie knew there was no one else inside. Nonetheless, she glanced around nervously.

"It's all right." The voice continued.

"Where…where are you? Who are you? Where is Liara?!"

The voice was calm. "My name is EDI, I am the virtual intelligence that resides inside this ship. I can see you, but I have no desire to harm you."

"Ship?" _That's not right, the Cerberus base is on a planet. Isn't it?_

"You are aboard the SSV Normandy, your brother's ship. He rescued you from the Cerberus base, alongside Liara T'Soni, Miranda Lawson, and James Vega, the man you just stabbed with a needle."

Jessie held her head, it was throbbing. She wasn't sure she could take too much more today.

"Jessica, your brother would like to come in and see you."

Jessie clutched the scalpel tighter. But nothing happened. The voice spoke again. "Jessica, I am unable to open the door due to the failsafe's you have encoded in your hack. You will need to open it."

 _I hacked the door well enough to keep a computer out? What the hell did Cerberus do to me?_

"Jessica, Thomas would like to come in. Will you open the door?"

Jessie shook her head. "How do I know you're telling the truth?" She asked, then became angry at herself for even engaging this thing. Surely it was just another Cerberus trap?

The voice did not speak for a moment, though Jessie was sure she could hear voices outside the door. Then a new voice resonated in the room around her, a voice she recognised. "Hey Jessie, that was pretty impressive back there, though you're still not as good at breaking noses as I am."

Jessie felt a smile spread across her face, and wasn't aware she had dropped the scalpel until she heard it clatter on the floor. She hurried to the door, typing quickly into the console. The door opened, and Tom stood alone in front of her.

"I asked the others to step outside," Tom began. "We weren't sure if you were going to be giving any more unscheduled shots today." He grinned, and there he was. Her little brother, same brown hair, same blue eyes, same goofy smile.

* * *

 _Tom looked at his sister and felt his heart break a little. His beautiful sister, who had once looked so much like their mother, was virtually unrecognisable. Her brown hair was now all but shaved off. Her eyes, formerly as bright and piercing blue as his own, were now practically devoid of colour. She was thin, and tired, and he could see needle marks and stitches on practically every piece of skin not covered by the med-bay gown. He felt so infuriatingly angry, angry with Cerberus, sure, but mostly with himself. It was his fault, they had taken her because he had betrayed them, and if he had never agreed to work with Cerberus all those months ago she would never have been involved. His sister, who had only ever protected him, was now the one who needed saving._

* * *

Jessie ran to her brother and threw her arms around his neck. Then she stepped back, and punched him square in the chest. He stepped back, winded, and Jessie tried to pretend she hadn't seriously hurt her hand during this bold move.

"What took you so long?!" She asked, raising her hands in the air exasperatedly.

"I'm sorry," Tom replied. "I was locked up."

Jessie punched him again, but lighter this time. "So was I! And unless you were cut open every other day, it's not the same thing."

She saw Tom lower his eyes, and realised how terrible he felt. Now she was feeling guilty too.

"Is Liara ok?" She asked.

Tom nodded. "She's fine. Worried about you."

"Did she tell you?...What they did to me?"

Tom nodded.

"What do you think?"

Tom grinned. "I think Cerberus just gave us an amazing tool."

Jessie raised an eyebrow. "Did you just call me a tool, jerk?"

"Calm down brainiac."

"Ouch, did it hurt your head thinking up a word with three syllables?"

And just like that, they were laughing like they did when they were kids. Stupid laughter at something that was only funny when you were brother and sister. When they finally stopped, Tom put his hand on her shoulder. "Are you ok, Jessie?"

Jessie nodded, feeling her eyes fill with tears. "I'm so happy to see you."

"Me too," Tom replied. Then he took her by the hand, leading her out of the room. "Come on, let's introduce you to everybody."


	5. Chapter 5

**I just wanted to say thank you so much to everyone who has read this story so far, and even bigger thanks to those who have followed/favourited or reviewed! It makes my day to see that people are enjoying the story, and encourages me to hurry up and get a new chapter done. Sorry this one took so long, I've recently started a new job which has taken up so much of my time. Hopefully the next chapter will come along a little bit quicker!**

 **I hope you like this one!**

* * *

 _Jessie and Tom couldn't go back to the hotel: they'd only been booked in for one night, and they didn't have any money. Zaeed, the only friendly face they'd come across since leaving their home, was long gone, and so the two of them were left with only the clothes on their backs, and whatever was left in their bags. Jessie was frightened, where would they sleep? How would they afford to buy food? What if another gang decided to finish what the first one had started? Too many questions._

 _Tom's nose had finally stopped bleeding after Jessie had given him a shirt to hold against it. The black eye forming on his face was darkening, but he was still in relatively good spirits. She, on the other hand, didn't feel so good. Her head was throbbing, and she couldn't shake the feeling that she was about to vomit. She tried to look strong, not just for Tom's sake, but because the two of them were getting strange looks from many of the people they passed, and she didn't want Tom and herself to look like easy targets._

" _Are you ok?" Tom asked._

 _Jessie tried to nod, but her head felt far too heavy, and the movement made her brain feel like it was crashing into the side of her skull. It was no good, they would have to stop. Her legs were now beginning to buckle, and Tom quickly pulled her to the side of the street, sitting her down on the floor. "I'm just hungry," Jessie suggested, trying to smile. It was partly true: the two of them hadn't eaten anything since the journey to Omega Zaeed's ship. But she knew it was more than that really. Once when she'd been really little, Jessie had fallen off the swing set in their garden, and her mother had been worried she might have 'a concussion'. She hadn't known what that meant, and still didn't know for certain, but she was pretty sure this was what it felt like._

" _I can find you something to eat?" Tom asked._

 _Jessie shook her head, she didn't want him wandering off alone, not here. "No, I'm ok. I just need to rest for a minute."_

 _Tom looked worried, but simply nodded his head. Jessie closed her eyes, deciding that a few minutes rest would probably be more than enough to get her back on her feet._

 _When Jessie opened her eyes, what felt like only a few seconds later, everything had changed. She wasn't sitting at the side of the street anymore; she was lying on a bed in a small room. Tom was nowhere to be seen, she was completely alone. Jessie sat up, but the spinning in her head only made her fall back onto the bed again._

" _Tom?" She croaked. There was movement from the other side of the room. Jessie realised she was in a cubicle, separated by a curtain that surrounded the bed on three sides, with the wall behind her. She could hear sounds of voices, coughing, and movement outside the curtains. A Salarian entered the cubicle, reading a holo-pad with a look of stern concentration. When he looked up, however, his expression softened._

" _You're awake."_

 _Jessie had never heard a Salarian speak before. This one had a quick voice, but there was something comforting about it._

" _Where…"_

" _Your brother? He's here, just getting checked over by one of the nurses. I'll bring him to you shortly."_

 _The Salarian moved closer, the Omni-tool interface appearing on his wrist. "Just need to run some tests."_

 _Jessie shook her head, moving further back onto the bed. The Salarian stopped immediately. He had a slightly sad look about him, one of his horns was much shorter than the other, as if it had been broken off. His eyes looked sympathetic, but Jessie wasn't sure she could trust anyone right now._

" _I want my brother." Her voice was no more than a whisper._

 _The Salarian nodded, then spoke into his Omni-tool. "Bring the little girl's brother to me, she is awake now." He smiled, "He'll be here in a moment."_

 _The Salarian seemed harmless enough, but until she knew Tom was ok Jessie decided she wouldn't let him any closer._

 _It was as though he could read her mind, as the Salarian made no attempt to approach her again. Instead he spoke from where he stood. "My name is Doctor Solus. Your brother came to my clinic a few hours ago after you lost consciousness in the street. I bought you here myself, and ensured that both you and your brother were treated."_

" _Treated for what?"_

 _Doctor Solus waved his hand absent-mindedly. "Nothing serious, a little dehydration, a few cuts and bruises, mild concussion. You'll be free to go in a few hours."_

 _And then, surprising no one more than herself, Jessie began to cry. Huge, heaving sobs that left her shaking, the tears smearing the dirt on her cheeks._

" _Nowhere to go?" The doctor asked, still not daring to approach._

 _Jessie shook her head._

" _No parents?"_

 _Another shake._

 _Jessie could see the doctor didn't look surprised. She wondered how many orphans lived on this station, then found herself crying harder at the realisation that she and Tom were now technically 'orphans' too._

 _Doctor Solus spoke up. "There is somewhere. Not far from here, a home for orph…for children without anyone to take care of them. Nothing luxurious, but the people working there will make sure you have food and shelter."_

 _Jessie stopped crying, which was lucky, as another Salarian appeared, bringing Tom into the room. His face lit up when he saw his sister, though dropped slightly when he saw the redness in her eyes and her damp cheeks. Jessie reached out her arms, pulling her brother in close, so close that he had to climb into the bed next to her._

 _Jessie nodded to Doctor Solus, who gave her a brief smile and quickly left she and Tom alone._

" _What's happening?" Tom asked._

" _We have somewhere to stay," Jessie replied, hoping that the two of them might finally be experiencing some good fortune._

* * *

Jessie was alone. This wasn't anything new, in fact, after spending the last three hours with her brother, talking to the crew, and finding out about the war with the Reapers, being alone was just what she needed.

She had been given her own room, and though it was not a great deal larger than her cell in the Cerberus base, it felt like a different world. She had a large double bed, with much softer bedding than she would've expected from a warship, a desk and chair, a large couch, and even her own private bathroom. It was warm and safe, and she could lock the door if she wanted.

Which she had. Despite everyone being friendly, and her brother being the one in charge, Jessie needed to feel in control of at least this space, and locking the door gave her that feeling.

Jessie stood up, looking at herself in the mirror over her desk. She wondered if she would ever feel normal again. The Doctor had told her that she could have treatment to bring her hair back, seeing as how most of it had been shaved off anyway, but that would not start until tomorrow. As much as she knew she should simply be grateful to be alive, she wouldn't feel right until she started looking like her old self again. The face in the mirror was one she barely recognised.

At least the crew had made her feel welcome, they seemed like a good group. As well as Miranda and Liara, there was the guy she had stabbed with the needle, who was called James Vega. He was surprisingly friendly considering the circumstances of their meeting. Then there was Joker, who she'd met before a couple of times, and EDI, the ship's artificial intelligence who also resided in the body of a smoking hot robot. There were more, but Tom had thought she should take it slow with meeting new people, so she would meet the other members of the crew over the next few days. They weren't in Tom's squad, they were the ones who worked onboard, so she'd probably just wait until she ran into them.

She remembered some of Tom's crew from the old days, though she had only met them once or twice: Garrus, Tali, Wrex, but none of them were here. From the look in Tom's eyes when she asked, however, he clearly had plans to change that.

It was hard to think about other people right now, there was far too much to get to grips with. Jessie felt like she'd been bombarded with information from the second she'd come aboard, and this was the first chance she'd had to sit down and try to piece it all together. But it was overwhelming, and she didn't know what to think about first. Jessie decided to make a list, something she had always done as a way of coping with stress. As she listed each item, she gave herself one minute to think about it, before moving on to the next.

1) I was kidnapped by Cerberus. – _Yes I was, but that's over now and I'm free. I'm back with my brother. I'm safe. No sense worrying about this one any more._

2) They did experiments on me. – _That was terrible. I can't imagine a time when I won't have nightmares about it, but again, it's over now. I'm in my room, the door is locked, Tom is in charge. Cerberus isn't getting hold of me again._

3) I'm some weird robot-human-computer hybrid. – _Ok this one kind of sucks, because it's not over. I'm going to have to deal with this. So that's what I'll do, I'll just deal with it as it happens, and not worry about how things have changed and how I'll probably start talking in binary._

4) The Reapers have invaded Earth. – _Yes that sucks too, but not much I can do about it._

5) The Reapers want to kill everyone. – _Tom won't let them._

That last thought brought more comfort than any other. Her brother was a hero, a legend, he was known throughout the galaxy as the one who kept everybody safe. If he thought they could beat the Reapers, then they would beat the Reapers. Besides, how bad could the Reapers be? Tom hadn't specified how many there were, and he'd never told her much before all this had started. As far as she understood, they were a race of sentient machines, a little like the Geth, but a bit bigger. Tom had fought hundreds of Geth, the Reapers couldn't be that different could they?

There was a knock at the door. "Hang on," Jessie called, getting up from the bed. She unlocked the door, and stepped aside to let in a pretty woman with short brown hair.

"Hello, I'm Samantha."

"I'm Jessie," Jessie held out her hand, then realised how awkward that looked. Luckily Samantha didn't seem to think it was strange, and she shook her hand with a pleasant smile. "I just wanted to introduce myself," Samantha continued, "And check whether there was anything you needed?"

"No, I think I'm ok, thanks," Jessie replied. She wasn't used to friendly chit chat, and hoped she didn't sound too brusque.

Samantha nodded. "If you like I can link your Omni-tool to the Normandy's systems?"

"I've already done it."

Samantha looked rather surprised. "Really? You should've needed authorisation to do that, I didn't think our systems were hackable." She brought up her own Omni-tool, her eyebrows knitted together.

Jessie felt her face burn a little. "It's not your systems…I'm just…I'm pretty good at hacking."

Samantha still didn't look convinced, but simply smiled, closing her Omni-tool. "Ok then, well just call me if you need anything." She let herself out, and Jessie sat down on the bed. She was still getting to grips with this new 'power' herself. She didn't know whether she had actually been able to hack into the Normandy's systems because she was good, or if it was because of what Cerberus had done to her. It was too much to think about, and she suddenly found herself overcome with exhaustion. Sleep was a much more attractive alternative to thinking about anything right now. She lay down on the bed, not bothering to get undressed.

As she waited for sleep to come, she couldn't help but wonder what would happen to her. Would her brother drop her off at the nearest safe planet? Would he want her to stay? She knew what she wanted, but she had a feeling the decision had probably already been made for her.

* * *

"I'm taking you to the Citadel."

Jessie and Tom were in her bedroom, eating breakfast from bowls in their laps when Tom had dropped that bombshell. Jessie couldn't say she was surprised, she knew this was probably coming. That didn't, however, mean she was happy about it.

"What? Why?"

Tom raised an eyebrow, "What do you mean why?"

"I mean, _why_?"

Tom sighed, putting down his bowl. "This is a warship Jess. We're at war, and I'm constantly going to the most dangerous corners of the galaxy. Why would I put you in the most dangerous place you could possibly be?"

"Because it's also the safest?"

Tom raised an eyebrow again. "How did you figure that one out?"

"Think about it," Jessie continued. "If I'm here, you're always around to keep an eye on me, and not only you, your crew as well. You told me yourself, you work with the best people in the galaxy. Where could I possibly be safer?"

Tom shook his head. "I'm sorry, it's not going to happen. I have an apartment on the Citadel, it's big, it's safe, and I've even got a couple of friends close by who can look out for you. It's the best scenario."

"Not for me," Jessie mumbled. She looked at her brother. "You said Cerberus had given you a tool, that my hacking could be useful for you. Then use me!"

Tom shook his head again, and Jessie could see his mind was made up. "I know, I shouldn't have said that, it was selfish. I realised last night that I don't want you on the front lines with me, I don't want you in danger. I want to know that you're far away from all the fighting and that you're safe." He reached out, taking Jessie's hand. "Please Jess, do this for me?"

Jessie sighed. "Ok."

Tom smiled, and she could see how relieved he was. "Thanks. We're-"

He was interrupted by a ping on his Omni-tool. He looked at Jessie, "Give me a sec."

Jessie nodded, and Tom answered the call. It was Samantha Traynor, she said there was an important message coming through to the War Room, something about the Turian Councillor. "I'll be right there," Tom replied hurriedly, then squeezed Jessie's arm. "Sorry, I've got to go."

He left the room quickly, leaving Jessie to come to terms with the new plan. She had expected this, but it didn't make it any easier. She knew she should be grateful, she had no doubts the apartment would be fine, and that she'd be safe, but that wasn't the point. She might _be_ safe, but she wouldn't _feel_ safe. When Cerberus abducted her, she was in her own apartment, and she thought she'd been safe there too. She hoped, when she'd been rescued, that she would stay with Tom. Nobody would dare to touch her with Tom around. Plus she'd know where he was at all times, she'd know he was ok. Now they'd be millions of miles apart, and once more she'd have no idea from day to day whether he was alive or dead.

Jessie sighed, unfortunately it wasn't her choice to make, so she supposed she would have to deal with it. She decided to go and find Tom, tell him that she understood his decision, and ask how long she had left on board. She hoped she might have a few more days to get to know Liara a little better. Liara and Tom's relationship seemed strong, and Jessie wanted to know more about the Asari. She might end up marrying Tom, and Jessie didn't really know anything about her.

 _Do the Asari get married?_ Jessie wasn't sure. Maybe that could be her first question!

* * *

Jessie approached the War Room. She didn't think to knock: she'd been in here before and it was never that formal, however today there seemed to be a meeting taking place. Tom, Liara, Miranda, EDI, and James were standing around the console in the middle of the room, and all looked up when Jessie entered. She felt suddenly aware of herself, and rather embarrassed.

"Sorry," she muttered. "I didn't realise."

Tom nodded, and continued to speak to the others, but Jessie saw Liara throw her a smile, which made her feel better.

"So there's a change of plan," Tom continued. "Instead of heading to the Citadel to talk with Udina, we're going to one of Palaven's biggest moons. The Turian councillor has promised that if we rescue their Primarch, we'll get Turian troops for Earth."

"I'm assuming this is gonna be an easy pick up?" James asked with a grin.

"Afraid not," Tom shook his head. "The Reapers have attacked in force, and we've been unable to make contact with the Primarch, something to do with a Reaper jamming signal. We're not here to fight this battle, we need to extract the Primarch as quickly as possible and get him to safety. The Primarch is the priority."

The others nodded, and Jessie realised what this meant. She wasn't going to the Citadel right away, she'd be heading right for the heart of the fight. Ok, she'd be in the ship the whole time, but still, it was pretty exciting! Then something else dawned on her, Tom had said they were unable to make contact because the Reapers were jamming any signals trying to get off world. Perhaps she could find a way to help? If it involved hacking or unscrambling a code, surely she could be useful?

The others were getting ready to leave, and most had already passed her on their way to the elevator. Tom was the last to pass, and it was now or never.

"Tom, I was thinking I could-"

"No. Stay on the ship Jessie." He must've realised how stern he sounded, because then he grinned and said "I'd hate for you to look better than me."

Jessie went for her default childhood response: she stuck her tongue out. Tom laughed, and headed out the door, leaving Jessie alone in the war room. She could be helpful, she knew she could.

Maybe if Tom wouldn't take her word for it, she'd have to prove it.


	6. Chapter 6

_Seven years. They had been on Omega for exactly seven years today. It felt like a lifetime ago that nine year old Jessie, and her six year old brother had been left on this station. Back then it had felt like such a scary place: dirty, dark, and full of people who would slit your throat if you looked at them the wrong way. Jessie was sixteen now, and though Omega was still dark, still dirty, and still full of people you wouldn't turn your back on for a second, she felt like she understood a lot more about how this station worked._

 _They had been at the orphanage for all of those seven years, and though they had been fed and sheltered, the two of them had never been 'cared for'. The orphanage itself was a scam, it didn't take long to figure that out. The Humans who ran it didn't do so because they cared about the children of Omega, no, they were only interested in what they could get. Children can go places where adults won't fit, can slip along side streets unseen, can pick a pocket much easier than a fully grown person. That's what it was all about: money. The children of the orphanage were taught a few basic skills: how to climb, how to hide, how to distract, and then they were sent out. If you bought back something good, you got rewarded with extra food, or maybe even a candy bar. It wasn't all that bad: it wasn't like they didn't feed you if you didn't bring anything back, but you got the worst of the food, and you'd know they were going to be watching you more closely for the next few days. And those who consistently didn't work, often disappeared. The adults said they had run away, but the children knew the truth._

 _Jessie didn't let Thomas steal at first. For three years she went out into the streets on her own, leaving her brother in the room they shared with three other children. She would steal, she knew she had to in order to keep a roof over their heads, but she didn't want to make Thomas do it. He was good, honest, and it wouldn't be right._

 _But after three years Tom wouldn't wait inside anymore. He may not have been stealing, but he had been sneaking out each day after Jessie left, and he had learned how to navigate Omega's streets. He was fast and clever, and one day he simply wouldn't take no for an answer. Jessie couldn't really argue, it's not like he was much younger than she was when she first started, and the people who ran the orphanage (though happy with what Jessie was bringing home) were starting to raise questions about what Thomas was contributing._

 _Still, seeing her brother bringing home handfuls of stolen credit chits, jewellery, and anything else he could get his hands on left her with a feeling of emptiness she could not seem to shake._

 _Jessie realised things needed to change. She knew how this station worked, it was run on two currencies: crime and sex. She would not allow herself or Thomas to continue being a part of the criminal underbelly of this place, so it was time for her to consider the other option._

 _That morning when Jessie woke up, she acted as though she were going out for a normal day's work. Tom didn't question her when she said she wanted to go alone: though they sometimes worked together, they worked separately just as often: it was easier to remain invisible if you were just one child._

 _She knew where she was going, and it didn't take her long to get there. Yet, as she stood outside the doors to Afterlife, something stopped her taking that first step. If she did this, everything would change. Was she ready for that? She may not have wanted to steal any more, but was this really a better option? And even if it was, would they take her? Or would she be laughed out of the building before she even got to say her name?_

" _Help you?"_

 _Jessie turned, a Turian stood beside her. He nodded to the doors. "Do you need some help?" He repeated. He seemed friendly enough, but Jessie had learned that a smile could hide the most dangerous of motives, and she simply shook her head and walked inside._

 _The music was so loud, and Jessie almost had to cover her ears. She wasn't used to music: hadn't listened to any for a long time, and it felt so unfamiliar. Still, covering her ears wouldn't have exactly made her look like she was meant to be here. She saw another poster, the same one that had given her the idea about this place, and headed to a room at the back of the dance floor._

 _There were other girls in there, a couple of them smiled but most didn't even register Jessie's entrance. They were all Human, like the poster had specified._

 _There was a box in the middle of the room, and Jessie could see it contained the uniforms of Afterlife's dancers. Most of the other women were already changed, and Jessie hurried to grab something from the box. It looked clean, which put her a little more at ease. She got changed in the corner of the room, incredibly self-conscious and wondering how she would even manage the next part. She thought of the poster that had brought her here:_

"Afterlife needs Human dancers!

If you are a female Human (of age), who is confident, enthusiastic, and attractive, Afterlife wants you!

Come to the back room of Afterlife, for an audition and interview."

 _Underneath there had been a list of dates. Today was the last one._

 _Jessie didn't think of herself as confident, enthusiastic, or attractive. And she wasn't technically of age either (for Humans it was 18 years old). But she needed the money, and thoughts of finally being able to get Thomas and herself out of that orphanage were what drove her on._

 _All the girls were dressed now, and just in time, as a group of people were entering the room. The other girls lined up with their backs against the wall, so Jessie followed suit. She recognised the Turian from outside leading the group, and alongside him were two Batarians, another Turian, a Krogan, and an Asari. The Turian spoke up. "Ok ladies let's make this quick. We need four new dancers, maybe more if any of you stand out. We'll take none if you're no good." He pushed a button, and the middle section of the floor rose slightly to create a stage, complete with four shiny metal poles. Jessie's stomach dropped, she wasn't sure she was ready for this._

" _We haven't got time to do this one by one, so all of you will come on to the stage and dance together. You've got two minutes to impress us. If we're not turned on you get turned out. Any questions?"_

 _No one said anything, so the Turian and the others took seats by the stage, and then the music started._

Now? It starts right away? I'm not ready!

 _But it didn't matter how panicked Jessie was, because the other girls were hurrying to the stage. It was now or never. Jessie felt uncomfortable, this 'uniform', which was basically a bikini, felt too small. Looking around, however, hers was certainly not the most revealing. In fact, most of the women seemed to have purposefully chosen outfits that were far too small for them._

 _She watched as the women began to dance. She could see strategies forming already: there were the loners, the women who immediately found the poles and began dancing alone, desperate to stand out. Then there were those who had formed alliances, maybe they'd come together or just decided to team up: they danced together, grinding against and caressing each other's bodies. Then there were the ones who were most determined to be different: they ignored the stage and headed straight for the judges, climbing into their laps, allowing them to touch their bodies, and doing all sorts of things Jessie had never seen before._

* * *

Virnicus was so tired of this shit. This was the fourth day of dancer auditions, and for the fourth day it was the same thing. Most of the girls were attractive enough, but he knew what Aria looked for, and while he knew he'd probably have to hire some of them, this wasn't what she wanted. The ones on stage were either cold: clearly only here because Afterlife girls were better paid and looked after than those from any of the other bars, or too over the top. A guy who came to Afterlife didn't want a cold fish, who never looked him in the eyes and was clearly wishing she was somewhere else, but he also didn't want some girl doing what she thought an Afterlife girl should do. It was a pantomime, it wasn't real.

As for the ones who had climbed onto his fellow judges, they were the worst. An Afterlife dancer was not a hooker, and two of these girls had already overstepped the mark with his Turian colleague (he would need to talk with him later about conducting himself professionally). Virnicus sighed, this was why there were so few Human dancers in Afterlife: they couldn't handle themselves like the Asari could. Perhaps it was a cultural thing?

He was considering putting a stop to this now, when he saw her. The girl from outside. He had wondered when he saw her by the doors if she was here for the auditions, but had dismissed the idea: surely she was too young? She didn't look quite so young now, not with that uniform on, but she was certainly inexperienced. She stood at the back, not dancing, not doing anything except watching the others, just like he was. She was attractive, if you liked humans (Virnicus had always thought they were too soft). Her hair was long and brown, slightly wavy. She was slender, though it looked more like a result of not being able to eat enough, rather than it being her choice. Her eyes were sad, yet curious. She looked at him, made direct eye contact, and he saw it. That was what Aria wanted: the dichotomy between vulnerability and strength. Men who came to Afterlife wanted to see girls who were vulnerable, who they truly believed they could rescue (or control, depending on the man), yet who had that fire in their eyes. Who seemed to say "I need you to take me, but I will fight you every step of the way." She was perfect!

But where was she going? The girl was fleeing the room, and just as he stood up she was gone.

* * *

 _She couldn't do it, she couldn't do what those girls were doing, it wasn't right. Maybe she could've got on stage, but touching herself like that? Touching others? No._

 _As Jessie ran from the club she collided with someone. She muttered her apology, keeping her eyes down, but now whoever it was had grabbed her wrist! Jessie looked up._

Oh no.

* * *

Getting onto the shuttle was easy enough: the rest of her brother's crew were getting their armour, and luckily (or unluckily, as the case would probably be) Jessie didn't have any. There was someone else on the shuttle though, a man, who smiled when Jessie got in.

"Hi," he said, waving from the cockpit.

"Hi," Jessie replied.

The man got up, still smiling. Now he held out his hand. "I don't think we've met yet, I'm Steve, Steve Cortez. I'm the shuttle pilot." A loud beeping from behind made Steve frown. "Not again!" He hurried back to his console, cursing under his breath. "The damn gun keeps going offline. I thought I'd figured it out but it's still happening. Worst timing ever right?"

Jessie smiled, then moved closer. "Can I have a look?" She asked.

"Of course," Steve replied, moving out of the way.

Jessie looked at the screen. It was a simple system, she could hack stuff like this in her sleep. But she didn't need to hack, she needed to fix. But that wasn't a big deal either, by pressing a few buttons she immediately realised what the problem was, and within seconds she had rectified it.

"Damn, that was incredible," Steve laughed. "I never would've thought of that! I guess it's a dumb question now, but are you the one they sent to fly with me? They said you were good at this stuff."

This was her opportunity! Jessie smiled, "Yes, that's me."

"I'm really sorry, I can't remember what Sam said your name was?"

"Sarah." It was the first name that popped into her head, Jessie had no idea why she had chosen it, but it was good enough.

"Well Sarah, they'll be here any moment, shall we get started?"

"Sure." Jessie was already starting to panic, she'd never flown a shuttle before, what the hell was she thinking?!

"Do you mind if I take the lead? I love flying this bird," Steve asked.

Jessie tried to hide her relief. "Not at all."

"If you just keep an eye on the monitors for now, watch that gun doesn't flip out again. Then you can navigate when we get to the moon. Sound good?"

"Sounds perfect." Steve smiled again, and began to make final preparations for the flight. Jessie was already planning her next move. When Tom got on board he would see her straight away, and that would be her chance to prove herself blown. She looked back at the rest of the shuttle, the cockpit had an electronic door that was open at the moment, and the rest of the crew would obviously be expected to sit in the back.

Jessie waited until Steve was adjusting his harness before quickly hacking the door controls using the console in front of her. It was incredible, she had never been on this kind of shuttle before, yet seemed to know exactly what to push and when. She knew how to get to the door controls from the console in front of her, and had hacked them before Steve even turned around.

"Huh, what happened to the door?" He asked, glancing over at it.

"Not sure, maybe when I fixed the gun I caused another glitch somehow?" It was a terrible explanation, but Steve didn't have time to question it, as they could hear the others boarding the shuttle. There was a knock at the door. "Steve, you in there?" Tom asked. Jessie held her breath.

"Right here Commander, there's a glitch in the door, we can try to fix it?"

"We?"

"I'm with Sarah."

There was a pause, and Jessie just prayed Shepard didn't know the name of every person in his crew.

"Don't worry about it, as long as we're safe to fly?"

"Good to depart on your orders," Steve replied.

"Then let's go."

"Understood."

Jessie didn't realise she'd been holding her breath this whole time, and silently exhaled. As the shuttle rumbled to life, she focused on the controls in front of her, realising just how great a gift Cerberus had actually given her.

Now all there was left to do was land on the Turian moon, fix whatever was blocking their messages, find the Primarch, get off-world, and try to do all of that without getting killed by the Reapers.

Easy?


	7. Chapter 7

**Hello all, long time no write! I have lots of excuses: work, laptop breaking, family stuff, but let's just ignore that and get on with this again. Hope you like the new chapter, I'll be writing and uploading from my new iPad now, so fingers crossed no more technical hiccups! I've missed writing so much!**

 _Oh no._

 _The Asari held Jessie's wrist tightly, there was no chance of her getting away. Jessie recognized her right immediately she had picked her pocket only the day before. She thought it had been a clean grab too, but from the look on the Asari's face, she knew exactly who Jessie was, and what she had done._

 _The Asari pulled her back into the club, past the door to the room where the rest of the women were auditioning, up a set of stairs, and into a small office. She only released her grip on Jessie's wrist when she had securely locked the door behind them, and Jessie knew there would be no escape._

 _She waited for the beating, she had only been caught stealing a few times, but there was always a beating._

 _But it didn't come. The Asari just stared at her for the longest time, and Jessie began to wonder if she was in for something worse: maybe a beating was the least of her worries? Finally, after what seemed like an eternity, the Asari spoke. "That was a pretty good lift."_

 _Jessie didn't reply, what was there to say? But the Asari seemed to want something, because she raised an eyebrow, "Do you speak?"_

 _"Yes," Jessie replied quietly._

 _"Well?"_

 _Jessie figured she didn't have much to lose, so simply said "It wasn't that good, I'm here now."_

 _The corners of the Asari's mouth twitched, and she smiled for a fraction of a second, before her stony expression returned. The sat down on her couch, looking Jessie up and down. "You been doing this for long?"_

 _Jessie shrugged._

 _"Born on Omega?"_

 _Jessie didn't respond, she wasn't sure how legally she and Tom had actually been brought to this place, and she still wasn't sure what this woman's game was. But the Asari just smiled again, and said "No, I don't think so, otherwise you'd probably know who I am."_

 _"I know who you are," Jessie muttered, and it was true, she did…now. As soon as she had been dragged into this office it all became clear: there was only one Asari who used this room, the same Asari who ran this whole station._

 _"What do you know?"_

 _"You're Aria T'Loak."_

 _"If you know who I am, then I have to ask, do you have a death wish? Why would you try to steal from me?"_

 _Jessie shrugged again, "I didn't realize then, it was dark."_

 _Aria looked her up and down one more time. "I usually have no patience for thieves, it comes from the fact that I used to be one, and no one likes to be reminded of their past."_

 _Jessie nodded, so the beating was coming._

 _"But…" Aria seemed to be considering something. "What is your name?"_

 _"Jessie." There was no point lying, Aria knew everything. Or could find it out whenever she wanted._

 _"How old are you Jessie?"_

 _"Twenty-one."_

 _Aria raised an eyebrow. "Bullshit. If we're going to be friends, you're going to have to be honest with me. I won't accept another lie, so think carefully about what you're going to say next."_

 _Jessie paused, then answered "Sixteen."_

 _Aria smiled, "That seems more like it." She stood up. "How do you feel about a job where you don't have to steal, and where you get to keep your clothes on?"_

 _Jessie felt a smile cross her lips, something told her things might not be as bad as she thought._

So far so good, Jessie breathed, as the shuttle approached Palaven. No one knew she was here other than the pilot, who thought she was someone else anyway. She had no idea what she was going to do when she actually reached the moon: somehow she didn't think Tom would appreciate her opening the door and shouting "Surprise!" But she'd need to reveal herself at some point, otherwise she wouldn't be able to help, and something inside her told her she could do it, she could help them to stop the jamming signal. She could at least try, no one else seemed to have the same kinds of skills as her at any rate.

Steve landed the shuttle, Jessie heard the doors open, and her brother disembark. Just as easily as she had done it, she unlocked the door between the cockpit and the rest of the shuttle, and got to her feet. "Hey, how did you do that…And where are you going?" Steve asked, a puzzled look on his face.

"To help," Jessie replied, as casually as she could and, before giving him time to react, but noticing the slow realization cross his face, Jessie left the shuttle. She could see Tom, Liara, and James not too far away, heading to a camp of sorts. There was gunfire in the distance, but for now at least, Jessie felt relatively safe. Underdressed, in just her normal clothes, and cold, it was really cold here, but safe.

Tom and the others had entered the camp now, and Jessie hurried to catch up. Just as she arrived, the gate began to close. "Wait!" She called, noticing a Turian standing on a platform just above her. He looked at her suspiciously, and Jessie wished now more than anything that she had been wearing armor. "You lost?" He asked her, raising a brow plate.

"No, I'm here with Tom- with Shepard. Open the gate." She must have sounded at least halfway confident, because the Turian did as she asked. Jessie hurried inside. Tom wasn't far away now, he was talking at a nearby table with another Turian. It was now or never. Jessie held her breath and approached, deciding to wait until he had finished before announcing herself. James saw her first, and though he seemed more than a little surprised, Jessie noticed he also looked like he was about to laugh. Liara spotted her next, but she didn't look amused, she looked worried. Finally, Tom, who realized his squad mates were staring over his shoulder, turned around. He definitely wasn't laughing, and pushed past the others to get to her. He pulled her to one side. "Jessie?! What the hell are you doing here?"

"I wanted to help," Jessie replied firmly, though her legs were shaking a little, her brother looked beyond angry.

"I told you it's not safe, I can't believe you ignored me!"

"And I can't believe you won't use me!" Suddenly Jessie felt equally mad. "You know I can help, you can't forbid me from coming because you're my brother, you're supposed to be this great leader! Well then appreciate the fact that I might actually be able to do some good here! I'm not a child!"

Tom seemed a little taken aback, and was silent for a moment. "Ok," he said finally.

"What?" Jessie was sure she had misheard him, it couldn't be as easy as that, could it?

"I said, 'ok'. You're right, you could help." He looked her up and down. "But before you go anywhere near that communication tower, you're putting on some armor, deal?"

Jessie nodded, too shocked to say anything else.

Tom turned back to Liara and James, who looked equally surprised at his decision. "James, take my sister back to the shuttle to get some armor, then take her to the tower." He paused. "Keep her safe."

James stepped forward, clasped Tom's shoulder and said "I'm on it Shepard, she'll be safe with me."

Jessie wanted to feel victorious: she'd done it, she'd convinced her brother to let her stay, she was on her way to the communications tower to try and take out the jamming signal, and she even had some armor. But she didn't feel like celebrating just yet. In fact, she was starting to wonder what she'd gotten herself into. The armor may have been keeping her safe, but it wasn't exactly the right fit, and it made her movements feel restricted and clunky. The moon was terrifying, James had already had to push her to the ground so he could shoot some of those hideous Husk things she'd read about. Plus she still had no idea if she could even actually do anything.

"You ok?" James asked, snapping her out of her thoughts.

"Yes," she replied, much too quickly. James grinned. "Pretty dumb idea coming down here, bet you regret it now huh?"

Jessie prickled a bit, "No, it's the right thing to do."

James was still smiling, "Oh sure, sure, coming down to a hostile planet with no armor or weapon, no training, no idea what you're up against, yeah that was totally the right call."

She knew he was joking, and that he was right, but the fact that he'd just said everything that had only two seconds ago been running through her own brain really bugged her. "For your information," She replied hotly, "I know exactly what we're up against. Ok I may not be the most prepared, but I know the stakes." But she realized James wasn't listening any more, he was staring at something in the distance, just over the crest of the hill they were climbing. Jessie moved closer to him, following his gaze.

She realized she didn't have a clue what they were up against.

Standing there, in the valley below, was a Reaper. Hours later, sitting alone in her room, she would try to make sense of what it looked like, but it was so far removed from anything she had ever seen before that the closest she would get would be 'giant robot bug'. The thing stood over 150 meters high, with huge metal legs, and what looked like a cylindrical eye in the center. It stood it's ground, firing shots at the small one-man fighters circling it. One by one they fell out of the sky.

"Come on," James said, leading her gently away. "Nothing we can do here."

He led her down through the rocks and away from the fighting in the distance, though she could still hear it. Soon they reached the tower, where, Tom had informed her, there was a communications control panel at the top. She should climb up, 'do her thing', then come down. Whatever 'her thing' was, Jessie still wasn't sure about that part.

"You ok?" James asked again as she approached the ladder.

Jessie didn't know how to answer this time.

"I know," James replied, before she said anything. I've seen those things on Earth, on vids, and it still doesn't make it any easier. But we'll beat em', we've got your brother, and soon we'll have the Turian's too."

Jessie nodded, the only response she could provide at that moment in time, and made her way up the ladder towards the top of the tower. James waited below, his eyes scanning the surrounding area for any movement. Jessie was grateful, the last thing she wanted was any of those husks following her up!

The console itself was unlike anything she'd ever come across before. Not only did it look bigger and more complicated than Human technology, but there were no letters or words she could recognise, only symbols which she assumed must be Turian script. "Fuck," she muttered. What was she supposed to do with this?

"Jessie, are you there?" Tom's voice was in her new earpiece.

"Yeah," Jessie replied, leaning in to look closely at a symbol that looked a little bit like a cat wearing shoes.

"How's it going?" Tom asked.

"Pretty good," Jessie replied. She'd just pressed the cat button and now the whole console was flashing red. She bit her lip, _OK, so cat is bad, let's not press that again._

"Any idea of a timescale?" Tom asked, she could hear shooting now, he was obviously fighting. He needed this tower working.

"Five minutes?" She offered, pushing three buttons at once. The screen was green again, except now it was making a buzzing sound. _Is that better or worse?_ She wondered.

"Ok, the sooner the better," Tom replied. "Shepard out."

 _Five minutes, why the hell did I say that?!_

The sound of gunfire drew her attention, except this time it was below her. Jessie looked down, James was now fighting off husks. She had no idea where they came from, but they were approaching fast from all directions, how long would he be able to last? She turned back to the console, taking a deep breath. You can do this, she told herself. Then she had an idea, she pulled off the cover on the panel to the left. There was a multitude of wires, all reaching off in different directions, all different colours. But this was ok, Wires I can handle, she thought. And, as though on auto pilot, she began pulling some out, reattaching others in different places, and generally making a mess inside the console. Except this wasn't chaos, she knew exactly which ones to pull, and which ones to leave, as though she had someone reading out instructions inside her head.. When she had finished, she turned back to the console. Again, as if on auto pilot, Jessie began typing using the foreign keys. She knew what she wanted to do: stop the jamming signal. The language was irrelevant, her hands knew what they had to do, and so they did it. Jessie thought about what she wanted to see, and it was although she could see through the jumble of symbols and shapes on the screen, and into the core of the device. It took her less than fifteen seconds to find what she needed, and less than three to stop the jamming signal.

"It's done," she said into her Omni-tool.

"Already?" Tom sounded shocked. "Great, now get back to the shuttle."

Jessie sighed, her job was done, may as well do what he said now. She looked down, James had killed most of the husks, only a couple were still lolloping towards him. But there was something else coming too. It was far away, but it was moving quickly. As it got closer she realised it was another one of the Reaper creatures, the one they called 'Brutes'. It was running towards James now at full speed, but he was so busy with the husks that he didn't see it! Jessie climbed down the ladder as quickly as she could, almost losing her footing a few times, but was on the ground in seconds. "James, Brute!" She cried, and he spun around just in time for it to knock him out of the way. James flew twenty feet and landed out of sight. But Jessie barely had time to register this, because now the thing had turned and was looking at her. She gasped, turning and running in the opposite direction.

This thing was fast, but years of picking pockets and running away had made Jessie faster, and she was able to create some distance before she realised she was heading for a dead end. The ground in front of her just seemed to stop, and she was running so fast she very early went over the edge. She looked over, it was a steep descent, with it only levelling out about fifty feet below, but she could probably manage it. There wasn't much time to think about it, the Brute was only feet away. Jessie dropped down, sliding most of the way down the steep slope, and landing clumsily on the ground below.

She could hear the Brute, it was coming too, following her down! Jessie got to her feet, one of her ankles didn't feel great, but there wasn't anything she could do about that. She hobbled away towards a rock face in front of her: there was a narrow gap she was sure she could fit through, and the Brute wouldn't be able to. She reached it just in time, squeezing herself into the narrow space. It got even tighter further in, but she continued on. Within seconds the Brute was at the gap, reaching in, trying to grasp her. She was just out of reach, but couldn't get any further in without seriously injuring herself.

What was she going to do? She was trapped! The Brute was throwing itself against the rock face in an attempt to widen the gap, and now dust and small rocks were showering down on her. If this went on for much longer, she could get buried alive in here! Or the Brute would get in, and was either option any better than the other?


	8. Chapter 8

_Working at Afterlife wasn't so bad, much better than picking pockets. Jessie worked the bar, and it was a pretty easy job: she just had to wear the uniform (nowhere near as skimpy as the ones the dancers wore), pour the drinks, and smile at the customers. The customers weren't too bad either, most of them were either so drunk they didn't care who served them, or gave Jessie big tips on the off chance she would offer to go home with them. Which she didn't. She was still only sixteen, and while she knew all about what these men wanted from her, it wasn't something she was willing to give._

 _There were girls who did that, there was even a special building across the street (owned by the club) where this particular type of 'trade' occurred, but Jessie certainly wasn't one of those girls. Even so, Jessie did seem to get a lot of attention from the male customers, and the occasional Asari. She had never considered herself attractive, she was rather small, far too skinny from never getting enough to eat, and usually had dark circles under her eyes. She was sure it was due to the fact that she looked young and vulnerable. What was interesting, however, was how differently the various species went about trying to seduce women. The humans were fairly obvious: they paid her unrealistic compliments about how she was the most beautiful girl on the station, how they would take her away from this place, how the wedding ring on their finger meant nothing because they were leaving their wife tomorrow anyway. The Turians were different, they paid her little attention, but when they did, they usually tried to impress her by bragging about battles they had fought. The Asari would flirt and giggle, and make all sorts of propositions that made Jessie blush. The Vorcha simply mimed what they wanted her to do, the art of seduction was hardly their strong suit._

 _The Batarians were the worst, they just told her they would be taking her home, and made it clear her opinion on the matter didn't count. In those situations, it was up to Jessie to smile and state politely but firmly that she would in fact not be going home with him, before drawing their attention to the Krogan and Turian protection at either side of Aria's office. They weren't just there for Aria, they would look after any of the girls who worked here, and the Batarians were at least smart enough to take the hint._

 _The days, weeks, and months went by, with Jessie working almost every day. Her wages had afforded her and Tom a small two room apartment in the slums. One room for the two of them to sleep in (she in the bed, him on the floor), the other was a small kitchen. It was nothing compared to their home on Mindoir of course, but that felt like a distant memory anyway, and it was far more than they had ever had since arriving on Omega. Tom knew where Jessie worked, but not much more about it, seeing as he was too young to be allowed into the club anyway. Due to her wages being enough to support them both, Jessie had forbid Tom from stealing anymore. She wasn't sure if he had completely followed this instruction, but at least he wasn't doing it as much._

 _Two years passed, and Jessie was just finishing her latest twelve hour shift when Aria called her into the office. This was unusual, since hiring her, Aria had paid Jessie very little attention. She spoke to her every now and then, but rarely, and they certainly weren't friends. Jessie had, however, noticed Aria watching her from time to time. And once, when one of Aria's business associates had tried to hire Jessie for the evening on her way home from work (she had eventually just run away, losing him in a back alley), he had left the club the next day with his arm bent in the wrong direction. Jessie had a feeling Aria may have had something to do with that._

 _Still, being called into the office was something new, and Jessie was sure this could only mean one thing: she was in trouble for something. She just had no idea what._

 _"Sit down Jessica," Aria said, motioning to the couch where she was already sitting. Jessie perched on the edge nervously. "Don't look so frightened," Aria grinned, "You haven't done anything wrong."_

 _Jessie felt herself relax, only a little, she still had no idea why she was there._

 _"You've been here for two years now, correct?"_

 _"Yes," Jessie replied._

 _"So you're eighteen now? Actually the age you should've been in order to get a job here."_

 _She was still smiling, so Jessie smiled too. "I guess so."_

 _"How are things at home?" This was a new question. Aria had certainly never spoken to her about life outside this place. "…Fine" Jessie replied, feeling a little more anxious._

 _"And your brother, Thomas? How is he?"_

How does she know about Thomas? _Aria really did know everything. Still, no sense hiding it, it wasn't like it was illegal to have a family. "He's fine," Jessie replied._

 _"I'm going to get straight to the point Jessie, I know you're having money problems."_

 _Jessie felt as though she had been winded. It was true, their rent had steadily risen over the past couple of months, and now a local mercenary group were asking for protection money. Jessie had been working longer and longer shifts, but she was struggling to make ends meet._

 _But she wasn't sure she wanted Aria to know this, "We're ok," she muttered, but she could hear how unconvincing she sounded._

 _"What did I say about lying to me?" Aria asked. "You know I hate it, and you know I know everything about this station. So let me tell you what I know: I know your rent costs more than you earn in this place, I know the Blue Suns are hounding you for protection money, and I know it doesn't matter how many pockets your brother picks, you can't afford to keep living there. That about right?"_

 _Jessie could do nothing but nod._

 _"Ok, good. Now we're getting somewhere." Aria stood up. "I like you Jessica, you're the hardest worker in this place, and one of the few who hasn't tried to skim a little out of the cash register when they thought I wouldn't find out. I want to help you, but I also abhor charity, so I want to help you help yourself."_

 _Jessie was really confused now, where was Aria going with this?_

 _"I could've offered you this job before, hell I'm sure some of the girls working over there are younger than you, but I wanted to wait until you were old enough to decide rationally." She paused. "Hell, I wanted you to avoid it for as long as possible." She poured herself a drink, before continuing. "A room has become available in the Red House."_

 _The Red House, that's where the girls who sold their bodies worked. They came to Afterlife to find customers, then took them back to their room in the Red House. Was Aria actually offering her a job in a whorehouse?_

 _"I know what you're thinking," Aria continued, "But it's not so bad. We need a masseuse, our girl who usually does it has decided to leave Omega, so we have an opening." She looked at Jessie and sighed. "I'm not going to pretend that you won't be asked to provide other…services. But that will be your choice. All I will say, is that you can earn four times your weekly wage here in just a few hours. Think about it." Aria held the door open, and Jessie got off the couch and silently left._

 _She returned home in a daze. She wasn't really considering this, was she? Sure, she needed the money, she needed it desperately, but could she really do this? She had never even had a boyfriend, how could she even be thinking about this?_

 _Tom was out when she got home, which was good, because it meant he didn't see the threatening note on the door from the Blue Suns, telling them that the protection money was due tomorrow. That note was on top of one from the landlord, saying that unless the rent was paid in full, Jessie and her brother would be out by the end of the week._

 _Jessie sighed, perhaps the decision had been taken out of her hands._

~o~o~o~

The Brute was getting closer now, it'd already widened the hole in the rock face considerably, and each time it swiped for her with one of it's huge claws, Jessie was sure she was done for.

This time she was right, the Brute's claw managed to grasp hold of her leg, and now she was being pulled out of the space. Jessie struggled as much as she could, but it was no use, her body was now almost completely out of the gap. The creature was making a low growling sound, but it didn't sound like a living thing, more like a machine hum. Then the sound stopped, and as Jessie was pulled out into the open, she was suddenly dropped onto the hard ground. She looked up, the Brute had frozen to the spot. Then it slowly fell backwards. It hit the ground with a heavy thud. Jessie got to her feet and moved cautiously closer to the thing. There was a single shot through it's head, it had been sniped by someone.

"Careful." The voice came from behind her, and Jessie turned around. There was a Turian standing a few feet away holding a sniper rifle at his side. She couldn't see his face due to the helmet, but he had just saved her life, so Jessie thought it was safe to assume he was friendly.

"Thanks," Jessie breathed, still trying to catch her breath, but the Turian didn't seem to be listening, he was moving closer. "One shot isn't always enough," he continued, nodding at the Brute. Jessie looked back at the creature, sure enough, one of it's claws was still twitching. The Turian stood over the Brute and fired two further shots into it's head.

 _Definitely dead now._

The Turian looked over at her, "Are you with-" he paused, then stepped back a little. "Wait, I know you!" He pulled off his helmet, and Jessie realised she knew him too: it was Garrus Vakarian (at least she thought that was his last name). He had been part of her brother's squad when he had fought Saren, and then again when he was against the Collectors. She had only met him a couple of times, and they had spoken even less often than that, but she never forgot a face. She was surprised he remembered her though, he probably met so many people working with her brother, it was quite touching he knew who she was after all this time.

"Jenny, right?"

Ok, well he might not remember her that well, but still.

"Close. Jessie," she corrected.

Garrus looked a little embarrassed, "Sorry, I'm not great with names."

"That's ok Gareth," Jessie grinned.

Garrus looked confused, "Ah, no, it's Garrus actually."

Jessie's cheeks flushed. "No…I know…it, it was a joke…"

Garrus looked down, and for a moment Jessie wanted the ground to swallow her up: why did she always make lame jokes at the worst possible time? The guy had just saved her life, who cares if he got her name wrong! But luckily when Garrus looked up again she realised he was laughing. "Ok, so turns out I'm bad with names and understanding jokes," he grinned.

Jessie smiled too, "Looks that way."

"Don't tell your brother, he finds enough to make fun of me for as it is." Garrus suddenly looked concerned, "Is he alright? I haven't heard from him since Earth…"

"He's fine," Jessie reassured. "He's here actually, he's looking for the Primarch."

Garrus seemed confused. "Why?"

"He needs to get him off-world. The Turian councillor said if he could do that, he'd provide Turian troops for Earth."

Garrus was nodding, he understood, but he didn't look like he was completely happy with the plan. "Well then, if Shepard's heading for Victus, that's where you need to be. I'll take you, come on."

~o~o~o~

Jessie felt a lot safer walking beside Garrus. Not only was he a fantastic shot with the rifle, as he demonstrated again when they turned the corner and found theselves face to face with seven Husks, but Turians in general always seemed so powerful. Garrus was taller than her, far stronger, and walked with a sort of confidence Jessie couldn't help but be jealous of.

They didn't talk, Garrus said they were in dangerous territory, so it would be safer to be quiet. That was better anyway, Jessie always talked far too much when she was nervous, which she was now. That would've been bad enough, but the months of isolation she had just been through made her positive that anything she could possibly say would probably be nonsense anyway, and so amicable silence was just fine with her.

It took less time than she thought it would to find the Primarch, the problem was, he was in the middle of a war zone. She and Garrus hid behind a pile of rocks, where she could see a small army of Reaper ground troops fighting the Turians. Victus was somewhere out of sight, but she could see Tom and Liara, as well as James, in the thick of it. She was glad to see James had survived his flight, but it wasn't exactly the best location for a reunion. And though she knew her brother was one of the best soldiers the Alliance had, how long would he be able to last in a fight like that?

"Damn guns are offline again," Garrus muttered, pointing to the mounted turrets at a barricade not too far away. "If they were working, our men could mow down those forces from above, no problem."

Jessie sighed, she knew what this meant. She turned to Garrus, "If you can get me to those turrets, I can get them back online."

Garrus raised a brow plate, looking at her sceptically. "What do you have in mind?"

"Don't worry about that," Jessie waved her hand. To be honest, she hadn't the faintest idea what she was going to do, but that didn't mean she wouldn't be able to do it. "I need you to cover me when I make a run for it, can you do that?" She asked. Garrus still didn't look too sure about this elusive plan of hers, but he nodded.

"Ok," Jessie breathed, turning towards the war zone in front of her. Now for the hard part.

She took a deep breath, noticing Garrus resting his gun on the boulder in front of him. He was ready, now it was up to her.

Jessie ran from behind the cover and out into the chaos. Ducking between rocks, crates, and anything else that could shield her, she made it halfway across the battlefield before anyone even noticed her. But she didn't have time to congratulate herself, because now the Husks had seen her, and were heading towards her quickly.

BANG! BANG! BANG!

Shots whizzed past her head and through the skulls of three Husks within seconds. Garrus had her covered, and soon more and more Husks seemed to be piling up at her feet. Jessie continued on towards the barricade. Every time one of the Reaper ground forces got too close, it was immediately blown away. Jessie started to feel a little invincible, damn Garrus was a good shot! But she shouldn't get complacent, it wasn't like he had unlimited ammunition, and she was getting further and further away from him: before long she'd be out of range.

She reached the ladder leading up the barricade, the Turians guarding it paid her little attention: she didn't exactly look Reaper-ish, so they must have known she was on their side. Jessie clambered up the ladder and towards the console.

"What are you doing?" A nearby Turian asked, sounding bewildered. "You can't be up here-"

"I'm helping," Jessie muttered, already typing feverishly into the console. Again, the strange symbols meant nothing to her, but they didn't need to: Jessie was simply telling the computer exactly what she needed it to do, and it was complying happily. Seconds later the guns were online, and she even managed to calibrate them: increasing firepower by 3.2%. "There," she said, stepping back. "Be my guest." The Turian grinned, moving towards the turret. She had done her part, now it was his turn. Jessie saw more Turians getting onto the other turrets around the barricade. They all began firing at once, with a sound so deafening she had to cover her ears.

~o~o~o~

The battle, if you could call it that, didn't last long. Every Reaper troop on the field was mown down, and the Turians were victorious. They hadn't won the war, of course, or even a major battle: others still raged across the moon, but at least they had won this round, no more Turian blood would be spilled on these rocks.

Jessie was exhausted, and the last part of the mission seemed to pass by very quickly: Tom convinced Victus to come aboard the Normandy, under some condition that she didn't hear. Whatever it was, though, it made her brother look nervous, so she guessed it wasn't something he was looking forward to.

Garrus told Tom he would be coming too: he wanted to help his people, and this seemed the best way. Jessie was sure it wasn't just that: Garrus and Tom had been friends for years, she wondered whether part of Garrus' enthusiasm also came from being reunited with his best friend too, even though he wouldn't admit it.

They all made their way back to the shuttles, Jessie going a little slower than usual due to her ankle, which was now causing her considerable pain. She didn't care though, she had done something amazing today: she had made a difference, turned the tide of the fighting, and proved she was actually useful. She could tell from the look on Tom's face that he knew it too, he knew he needed her. Despite his own feelings about her safety, she could see he wouldn't send her back to the Citadel.

She was going to see this through to the end.


	9. Chapter 9

_Jessie sat in her room in the Red House. It wasn't so bad in there: the room itself was pretty big, it had a massage table, a couple of couches, and a large bed. Jessie was trying not to think about the bed. There was also a small bathroom. The room was decorated with red walls and black furniture. There were scented candles burning in the corner, making the whole place smell like oranges._

 _Jessie pulled at the material of her new uniform: it was a dark red fitted dress, open at the stomach, and low cut at the chest. It wasn't exactly the most comfortable, and Jessie wasn't used to having this much skin on show. But it wasn't like she was going to be drawing in many customers wearing an anorak._

 _She got to her feet, sighing. The waiting was driving her insane, she was sure once her first customer had left she'd feel better. However, as soon as the light next to the door began to flash: meaning there was a customer waiting, she had to fight the urge to throw up. Jessie put on her best smile, trying to calm the churning in her stomach._

Here we go.

 _She opened the door. It wasn't a customer, it was two women: a human with short spiky blonde hair, and an Asari. They both wore similar uniforms to Jessie, had heavily made up faces, and were smiling. "Hi," the human said. "I'm Elandra, this is Rhona."_

 _The Asari gave a little wave._

 _"Jessie." Jessie replied._

 _"We just wanted to check in and see if you were ok," Elandra said, stepping into the room._

 _"Thanks," Jessie said, feeling a little surprised. After working at Afterlife for two years, she'd not really made any friends (the humans thought she was young and immature, though she had done nothing to give them that impression, and the Asari just looked at her with disdain), yet these two seemed genuinely friendly._

 _"I remember my first day," Rhona said, following Elandra into the room. "I didn't eat for like two days before I started, I was so nervous." She sat down on Jessie's bed._

 _"I'm a little scared," Jessie admitted._

 _Elandra smiled, "Don't worry, you're totally in control. If anyone gets out of hand, you press that button." She motioned to a button on the wall._

 _"Or just yell," Rhona added. "We've got a couple of Krogan bodyguards who'll sling the guy out on his ass."_

 _"But most of the customers know that," Elandra said, "And they're all pretty well behaved." She had a pretty face, but Jessie couldn't help but notice a scar under her eye. Had a customer done that to her?_

 _Jessie's stomach started to churn again, she wasn't sure if she could do this. Both girls looked sympathetic. "Is this your first time doing this kind of work?" Elandra asked gently._

 _Jessie nodded._

 _"It's not that different to meeting a guy when you're at a bar or something," Rhona said airily, flicking through the magazines on the table next to Jessie's bed (several issues of Fornax, a pornographic magazine so detailed that Jessie had taken one look and then hurriedly put them away, vowing never to look again!).._

 _"Yeah," Jessie muttered uncertainly. Rhona raised an eyebrow, looking up from the magazine she was holding suspiciously.._

 _"Wait, you've…been with a guy before, right?"_

 _"Yeah, of course," Jessie lied. Neither of the girls looked convinced, but neither of them pushed it any further. "Besides," Jessie added hastily. "I'm just the masseuse, Aria said there's no obligation to…you know, do anything else."_

 _Elandra smiled, "Right."_

 _Rhona raised an eyebrow. "Aria may run this place, but she hasn't got a clue how it works in here. Besides, you want to be careful with her, she says that now while you're pretty and agreeable…but if she thinks you're not bringing in enough credits she'll turn you out on your ass."_

 _Jessie felt a little taken aback, though Rhona had not said anything she hadn't already thought about. Elandra moved a little closer to Jessie, throwing a scowl at Rhona. "Don't worry," she said, gently touching Jessie's arm. "You'll be great."_

 _"What are the customers like?" Jessie asked, not sure she really wanted to know._

 _"Taylor was the last masseuse," Rhona began. "She used to get a lot of humans, a lot of Batarians, a few regular Hanar and Salarians."_

 _"No Krogan?" Jessie asked, unable to hide the relief in her voice._

 _"Unlikely," Elandra said, "They're not really into humans, particularly skinny ones like you, they like big girls."_

 _Rhona piped up, "And if one ever asks, you're allowed to say no, they can go find someone else upstairs who'll take them, like Koba."_

 _"She'll take anyone," Elandra snorted._

 _"What about Turians?" Jessie asked._

 _Rhona shrugged, "They're pretty rare, Turians don't like to pay for it, because they're so proud. And when they do come, they tend to go for Turian women. The odd one will chose a human, but when they do, they want curvy girls, because they're so different to Turian women. And they rarely want a massage, so you probably won't see any."_

 _Jessie felt a little relieved, those were the two species she had been most worried about, the Krogan for obvious reasons, and the Turians because they were so strong and proud looking, she had always been a little frightened of them. She was dreading the Batarians though. She knew they weren't all bad, and most were nowhere near the kind of Batarians who had raided Mindoir…but she still felt sick to her stomach when she saw them. She was just grateful she hadn't seen any on that day all those years ago, otherwise she'd surely never be able to get over that._

 _Rhona looked at the clock on the wall. "We should go," She said to Elandra._

 _Elandra nodded, and smiled at Jessie. "Good luck," she said. "Don't be nervous, you'll be great."_

 _The two women left the room, leaving Jessie alone once more. She wasn't sure if she felt reassured or not, but at least she knew there were some friendly faces she could turn to if she needed to._

 _The light above the door was flashing again now. This would be it. Jessie took a deep breath, moved towards the door, and opened it._

~o~o~o~

Jessie sat in the dark of her room on the Normandy, well aware of the fact that she probably wouldn't sleep tonight. They had left Menae with relative ease, especially considering the fact that it was still under attack by Reaper forces. Once back on the Normandy, and out of hostile territory, Tom and the Primarch had headed straight for the war room, with Garrus close behind, and the rest of the crew had disappeared. Jessie, unsure what to do with herself, had simply headed to her room, where she had been for hours. She was sure the rest of the crew, including her brother and the Primarch, would now be asleep. But as yet, sleep had eluded her. She hadn't turned on the light again yet, hoping that if she sat in the darkness for long enough, she would eventually begin to feel tired.

But she hadn't. Jessie sighed, then brought up her Omni-tool: using it to turn on the lights in her room. She squinted at first, then turned down the brightness a little. That was better. Jessie wrapped her arms around her legs, wondering why she was finding it so hard to relax, was it just left over adrenaline from the mission? It wasn't like she had killed anyone, or even had to fight: she had simply run away from danger, and done a few of her little hacks.

It was no good, she wasn't going to sleep, and now she was feeling claustrophobic. She got out of bed and looked at the time: 3AM. Most of the crew would certainly be asleep. She put a robe on over her pajamas just in case: no one needed to know she slept in pajamas covered in little Varren pups (a present from her brother).

Jessie opened the door to her room, and slipped out into the hallway. All was quiet. Her room was just across the hall from the dining room, which was empty, as was the small kitchen. There were piles of plates on a little table in the kitchen, ready for the crew to serve themselves at breakfast in a few hours. A few people had been playing Skyllian five, they had left their cards out on the table. It was peaceful out here, and Jessie's claustrophobia began to subside now she was out in the open. She could see the door to Liara's room just across the way: the red icon indicating it was locked. She didn't know if her brother slept in Liara's cabin, or his own. He seemed so proper and formal here, she wouldn't be surprised if he kept things strictly professional when on missions. That made her a little sad: he deserved some happiness, to hell with regulations!

Jessie got in the elevator and rode it up to the command deck. She was surprised to see a couple of crew members dotted around the various consoles in the room, but then she reminded herself that even an advanced ship like this probably needed a few people working night shifts. Though the man working on the console nearest to her seemed to be playing a video game on his screen, and the woman a few consoles away from him looked like she might actually have been asleep!

"Evening."

Jessie turned around, surprised to hear the voice from behind her. It was Joker, the pilot. She had only spoken to him a handful of times, both since joining, and from the last time she had met her brother's crew. Still, she liked Joker, he had a cynical, sarcastic way about him, and she could get on board with that.

"What are you doing up?" She asked.

Joker shrugged, "I don't really sleep much these days, not since Earth."

Jessie wasn't sure what to say, she didn't feel that she knew Joker well enough to talk about what happened on Earth. But she couldn't just let that hang their either, so she simply said, "Yeah."

Joker gave a little smile, "That's what I like about you, most people would ask about what I saw, or who I left behind, but you don't."

Jessie flushed, "Sorry, I didn't mean…did you-"

Joker waved his arms. "No, I'm serious! I hate people feeling sorry for me, let's talk about something a little more lighthearted."

Jessie smiled, "Ok." She followed Joker back to the cockpit. EDI was in the co-pilot seat, working at one of the consoles. She nodded at Jessie when she entered.

"So," Joker began, sitting back in his seat and putting the coffee cup down in front of him. Jessie perched on a chair to his left. "Cerberus experiments huh?"

Jessie rolled her eyes. "I wouldn't say that was more lighthearted exactly."

"I doubt Jessica wants to think about her time spent with Cerberus," EDI added.

"I know what you mean," Joker agreed. "They aren't exactly the best people to spend an afternoon with."

"Or three months," Jessie added.

"Or three months," Joker nodded. "Still, this power thing is pretty cool."

"I wouldn't call it a power, I can just hack stuff…I could always do that, it's just a bit better."

Joker shook his head. "Don't be modest, you out hacked EDI your first day here, she couldn't open the door you locked. You know, before you got all stabby with the needle and gave James a shot."

He was grinning, and Jessie couldn't help but mirror it. "I was scared," she argued lightheartedly.

Joker held up his hands, "Hey, I thought it was awesome."

"You weren't the one who got a sedative in the neck." Jessie turned at the sound of James' voice. He came into the cockpit dressed in just a towel and with wet hair. Joker raised an eyebrow, "Vega I feel like I've seen you in a towel more than in your armor, could you please put some damn pants on?!"

James ignored him and sat in the only other vacant seat in the cockpit. "You know I had a numb neck for hours after that."

Jessie bit her lip. "Did I ever say sorry?"

James shook his head, "Don't worry about it. If someone had me tied to a table for months I'd probably act a little crazy too."

"Tied to a table? Kinky," Joker grinned.

Jessie scowled at him, but he knew she wasn't actually angry. The opposite, this was the first time in a long time she had felt safe. Not just safe, comfortable. Happy. Smiling and laughing.

"Like I say, no harm done," James said, he shifted a little in his chair. Jessie imagined this was unfortunate for Joker, as James' towel was not long, and the movement gave Joker a momentary glimpse of something he didn't want to see.

"Vega put some pants on," Joker repeated holding a hand up to cover his eyes. But James wasn't listening.

"Hey I was thinking about your hacking thing, that could be seriously useful. Has Shepard said you can stay?"

Jessie nodded, "Yeah, I'm staying."

James grinned, "Awesome." He moved back in his chair.

"Vega, pants." Joker sounded frustrated, but James waved him off.

"Yeah, yeah, in a sec. Hey I wanted to ask you," he began, looking at Jessie with an expression she hadn't seen him wear before. "You gotta fill me in on what Shep was like as a kid, you must have hundreds of stories!"

Jessie smiled, "A few, but he'd probably blow me out of the airlock if I told you."

James' mouth hung open a little. "Oh man, now you HAVE to tell me!" He leaned forwards in his chair. Even Jessie saw it this time.

"Vega, for the love of God would you put some pants on?!" Joker cried, putting his hand over his eyes again.

Suddenly there was a loud noise from open of the consoles. Joker spun around, and began typing hurriedly. "Fuck," he muttered. Then louder, "Fuck! There's a ship approaching, a dreadnaught."

James got up, moving over to stand beside Joker's chair. "What kind?"

"Unknown, it's not registered. Son of a bitch is huge though."

"Is it targeting us?" James asked.

"No," EDI said. "But it is trying to dock with us."

"Get Shepard," Joker added. "Now!"

James didn't need to be told twice. He took off down the hall and Jessie, caught up in the moment, followed. The two of them got into the elevator and rode it to the top deck: her brother's cabin.

James hammered on the door, but no response. He knocked harder, then called "Shepard!"

"Let me," Jessie muttered, hacking the door with ease. Within seconds it was open, and the two of them headed inside. Her brother was asleep, Liara at his side. James headed over and shook Tom awake. In less than a second Tom had grabbed a pistol from under his pillow and held it against James' forehead.

"Sorry!" He said, immediately lowering it. "Habit." He looked at James properly as Liara stirred next to him. "Vega, why are you naked in my room?" Liara immediately sat up, glancing at James. Jessie couldn't help but think she looked mildly disappointed that James was actually in a towel.

"Sorry Shep, didn't have time." James replied. "But there's a huge fucking ship trying to dock with us right now."

Tom jumped out of bed, throwing on a shirt and some pants over his boxers. Liara hurriedly put on a robe. The four of them got back in the elevator.

Halfway down Joker's voice came over the speaker. "EDI's traced the ship trying to dock with us."

"What is it?" Tom asked.

"Let's just say this will either be really good, or absolutely fucking terrble."

Before Joker could speak next, Jessie couldn't help but notice a smile spread across her brother's face.


End file.
